From Sin City to the Big Apple
by KyoshiWarrior1997
Summary: When the leads of an unsolved case get cold, the CSI team believes they won't be able to close the case. Six months later, the team finds out that the killer is New York, now members of Las Vegas crime lab must travel to New York to catch the killer. Will the two teams stop this killer? Or the case will get complicated when one of them becomes personally involved with the case?
1. Chapter 1: Sin City

**From Sin City to the Big Apple**

 _ **A/N: Hey guys! KyoshiWarrior1997 here! I'm so excited because this is the first fanfic of CSI I've written. So, I know both CSI and CSI: NY are over (one finished properly and the other was cancelled but it's almost the same), but while I started reading the others CSI fanfics and watching the reruns here in Mexico (which are transmitted everyday) I decided to write a crossover with CSI and CSI: NY. This crossover takes place before the official crossover. We know that D.B. and Mac met in a conference before the crossover, but here they met before Mac was shot, its set during season 12 and season 8 of both shows respectively.**_

 _ ***Reposted from the cross-over section. It didn't have the impact I wanted. :(. I don't own CSI or CSI:NY.**_

* * *

 _As soon as the sun rises in New York City, the everyday life starts. Heavy traffic, people in the subway stations and walking down the street are common for this city, including police chases…_

 _A man was going down by the emergency stairs of an apartment building, behind him there was another man chasing him. "Stop!" Shouted the detective, but the man continued going down until he reached the last level of the stairs, as soon as he reached the floor, he started running through the alley with the detective following him. They crossed the street, avoiding the civilians who were walking. "Hey! Watch it!" A man said. "Watch Out!" A woman said._

 _The chase continued, the man turned left in an alley and the detective did the same. "NYPD! Stop!"_

 _The man looked over his shoulder to see the detective that was chasing him, he never noticed that a dumpster was blocking his way until he looked straight ahead and crashed with the dumpster. The detective stopped running and smiled when he saw the suspect trying to get up. "Not bad for a tourist" The detective said to an older man who smirked in returned._

 _ **Six months ago…**_

 **Las Vegas, NV.**

Greg's shift had just started fifteen minutes ago, he was in the break room drinking a cup of his favorite coffee, Nick, Sara and Finn had already taken their case – a double homicide in Henderson- so he was finishing his cup to go over Russell's office and asked him if he had a case for him when Morgan walked into the break room.

"No mom, you're never setting me up in a blind date again." Morgan said through her phone.

"Because I almost had to call dad and asked for backups to arrest this guy fifteen minutes after we had met." Morgan replied, Greg was listening and frowned when he heard Morgan saying this.

"Yeah, don't worry mom. Love you." She said and hung up her phone. She sat in front of Greg and put her head between her hands. "God!" She sighed in frustration.

"What? Your hot date didn't end up well?" Greg asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"You're kidding?" Morgan asked. "I had to arrest the guy fifteen minutes after we met; it seems he was a suspect in an old case." She said.

Greg laughed softly. "I never took you for the type of blind dates." He said.

Morgan smiled. "My mom convinced me to give it a try after I told her I haven't had a date since I arrived to Vegas a couple of months back."

Greg smiled at the memory when he and Morgan met, it had been an awkward introduction at the time and he couldn't believe that Ecklie had a beautiful daughter and Greg instantly fell in love with her. Over the months they had been working together, they had become very good friends and after what happened with the hijacking of the medical chopper, Greg had been supporting Morgan all the way.

"Enough with my pathetic love life." Morgan's voice said making Greg to come back to reality. "What about you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Greg asked confused.

"You know what I mean." She said.

"You want to know if I had been dating recently."

She nodded. Greg laughed softly. "No, I haven't had good luck with dates too. I guess it's something we have in common." He said leaning back in his chair.

She smiled. "So, where are the others?"

"Nick, Sara and Finn are in Henderson investigating a double homicide, so I guess that leave us with Russell." Greg answered taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, finish your coffee and we can go to see if he has a case for us." Morgan said happily and laughed when she saw the surprised face of Greg.

A few minutes later, Greg and Morgan were walking to Russell's office as they were chatting about different things. Greg knocked on the door and Russell said "come in". Greg opened the door and they went inside.

"Hey boss." Greg said.

"Morgan, Greg. Just the ones I wanted to see." Russell said to the young CSI's.

"Well, we're the only ones here. The others are in the field." Greg answered.

"It's good to hear that, then." Russell said.

"You have a case for us?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, a 419 in Lake Mead, David's already there. I'll wait for you in the garage." Russell said walking out from his office and heading to the garage.

Morgan and Greg went to the locker room and grabbed their kits and vests, after a few minutes, they headed to the garage where Russell was waiting for them. They got on the SUV and headed to Lake Mead. After thirty minutes, they arrived at the crime scene and Russell went to talk with Brass, so Morgan and Greg went with David who was with the body.

"Hey, David." Morgan said.

"Hey guys." Dave said to his friends.

"What do we have, Super Dave?" Greg said as he approached to the body.

"At first sight, it appears that the victim was strangled." David said pointing at the victim that was hanging form the tree with his face covered and his hands were tied up. "I'll tell you more once I lower the body." David answered.

"Do you need any help?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, thanks." David answered.

Greg put his kit on the floor and went to help David. Morgan stayed behind and started to take pictures of the crime scene. "It looks like this isn't the primary scene, I don't see any drag marks." She said while David and Greg were lowering the body, once the body was on the floor, David took the liver temperature of the victim.

"According to the victim's temperature, he was killed three hours ago." David said checking the thermometer. "It seems that the cause of death wasn't strangulation."

"What was it, then?" Greg asked.

"I don't know. I'll tell you more once I take him back to autopsy." David said and asked for help to his team to put the body inside the coroner's van.

"Thanks David." Greg said and returned with Morgan. "You got something?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No." Russell approached to the two CSI's after talking with Brass. "Hey guys." He said. "Okay, so the victim didn't have an ID and those two are the ones who found the body." He said and pointed to a couple of teenagers that were talking with Brass.

"They come here to seek a little fun, but they were interrupted by the victim. Do you have anything?"

"I don't see any drag marks. I think that the primary scene is still in the city." Morgan said.

"Okay, I'll tell you what. Let's split up, we're going to walk in three different directions, starting from here." Russell said and the two CSI's nodded. They started to walk in different directions looking for any evidence. After a few minutes walking, Greg found some tire marks, he started to photograph them and called Russell to tell him about his discovery.

* * *

Minutes later, Russell and Morgan joined Greg near the tire marks. "The crime scene is 20 meters from here. The suspect parked here and carried the body until he reached the three and hanged the victim." Greg said.

"The width of the tires suggests that it was a big car that came here, maybe a SUV or a Pick-up." Russell said examining the tire marks. "Okay, let's take a sample of the tire marks and then we will return to the lab to see what David can tell us about our victim." He said. Greg and Morgan nodded and after they take a sample of the tires, they returned to the lab. Once they got back to the lab, Russell stayed with the evidence and Greg and Morgan headed to Doc Robbin's office.

"Hey, Doc." Greg said while entering in autopsy. "What do you have?" He asked.

"Well, your victim's throat was cut. At first I believed that maybe the victim could have some kind of disease making him to look pale, but after I loosened the rope and took it off, I notice a thin mark in his neck which is inconsistent with the rope." Doc Robbins said. "The official cause of death of your victim was exsanguination."

"We didn't find any blood pools; we need to find that primary scene." Morgan said.

"You're right." Greg answered. "You have anything else for us, Doc?" He asked.

"I found these scratches. It seems that the victim had a fight before he was killed, also I found DNA under his fingernails, I already sent the sample to Henry."

"If I have something else for you, I'll let you know." Doc Robbins said.

"Thanks Doc." Morgan and Greg said, they took the victim's belongings and the rope with which the victim was hanged and returned to the lab.

"You know, when I saw our victim, I started thinking that maybe he was hanged up like some kind of execution." Greg said.

"Really?" Morgan asked. Greg nodded. "Well, maybe the suspect is some kind of history nerd that feels a strange pleasure hanging their victims like in the medieval times." She said.

"Probably it's a new gang we haven't heard about." Greg said.

Morgan stared at Greg and gave him a look of "Really?" "Hey, I'm just considering all the options." He said.

"You want to make a bet, Sanders?" She asked playfully.

"Sounds interesting, Brody." He answered smiling. "What do you have in mind?"

"Let's see, if the killer results to be an Inquisition fan, you'll have to be my personal assistance for a month." She said with a bright smile on her face.

"Okay, if the killer results to be from a gang, you will have to accept a dinner with me." He said. They shook hands and started to look over the evidence. Greg took the rope and examined it as well as the tape, while Morgan examined the victim's clothes. Greg looked over the rope and he didn't found any fiber or trace, the only thing he found was blood, so he took a sample and analyzed it. While Greg was in the DNA lab, Russell entered in the layout room holding a folder.

"Okay, so the victim's name is Julian Nielsen." He said. "He was convicted three times, the first two were minor charges for drug possession, he stayed in prison two months for each charge, and the third was for drug dealing. He was sentenced for twenty years, but he came out after making a deal with the district attorney."

"What kind of deal?" Morgan asked.

"According to the report, they reduced his sentence after he gave the names of those he sold the drugs and accepted to go to rehab." Russell answered looking at the copy of the victim's previous report.

"The first time he was convicted when he was 18, the second time when he was 22 and the third when he was 28." Morgan said looking at the victim's rap sheet.

"Do you guys have anything?" Russell asked.

"Greg is analyzing the rope and the tape. I haven't found anything on the victim's clothes." She said. In that moment, Greg entered in the layout room holding a file in his hands.

"Okay, so the blood I found on the rope belongs to the victim, I didn't found anything else on the rope. I have to say that the killer is smart." He said.

Russell folded his arms and looked over the evidence. "Okay, right now we need to find the primary scene. I'm going to talk with Brass to see if he can find the victim's address." He said and went out of the layout room and headed to the office of Jim Brass.

"Did you found anything on the victim's clothes?" Greg asked.

Morgan shook her head. "No, there's nothing on the victim's shirt or jacket, I was about to check the pants when Russell came in." She said and grabbed the victim's pants and started to check the pockets, she didn't found anything on the left pocket but when she checked the right pocket, she found a card.

"Greg." She called him and Greg looked up from the photos of the crime scene. His eyes winded when Morgan showed him the poker card. "Wow, an ace card." Greg said. "It was in the pants pocket?" He asked.

"Yes, do you think the killer is trying to send a message?" She asked. She saw Greg frowning and waited for his answer.

"Maybe the victim owed the killer money and they killed him because he didn't have the money to pay." Greg answered, a moment of silence fell in the room but it was broken when Greg's cellphone rang.

"I have a message." He said taking out his cellphone. "It's from Henry; he said he has results on the DNA found under the victim's fingernails." He said looking at the message. Just as Greg finished his sentence, Morgan's cellphone rang this time.

"Who's texting you?" Greg asked.

"It's Doc." She said. "He found new evidence on the body." She said.

"Okay, I'm going to see Henry for the results." He said.

"And I'm going with Doc Robbins, see you here when we have all the news?" She asked.

"Yeah." He answered smiling. Greg headed to the DNA's lab while Morgan headed to Autopsy, just when Greg walked into DNA, he saw Nick coming out from it.

"Hey Nick." Greg said.

"Hey Greg." Nick answered in his Texan accent.

"How's your case going?" Greg asked.

"Good, we have a lead on the double homicide." He answered. "I heard that yours has no traces."

Greg sighed, "Yeah, but right now I have a good feeling about finding the killer." He answered smiling.

Nick smiled in return. "That's good G. I'll see you later, okay? I need to take this to Sara and Finn." He answered.

"Okay, bye." He said to the older CSI. "Okay Henry, what do you have?"

Henry handed him his results. "The DNA is on CODIS, it belongs to an ex-con, Clyde Smithson. He was in prison for drug possession and armed robbery." Henry said.

"He was one of Julian's buyers; I think we found a motive. Thanks Henry." Greg said. Henry nodded and Greg went out from DNA.

* * *

"Hey Doc, you found something else on the victim?" Morgan asked when she entered in autopsy.

"Yeah." Doc Robbins said, he approached to the body. "I found this after I cleaned the victim." He said pointing to a small injection mark on the victim's neck. "At first I couldn't see it, but after I cleaned the blood around the wound, I noticed this puncture wound."

"The victim had history using drugs, the rehab didn't help much." Morgan said looking at the puncture wound.

"I found some old injection marks; I estimate that they have at least two years." Doc said.

"This is consistent with the time when the victim entered to rehab; he spent two years in rehab after giving the name of his buyers." Morgan explained. "Thanks Doc."

* * *

Morgan returned to the lab and found Greg in the layout room looking over the evidence. "Hey." She said walking into the layout room. "Doc found a puncture wound on the victim's neck, my best guess, he was sedated."

"Henry gave me the results, our suspect was one of the victim's buyers and he spent some time in prison with our victim." Greg said. The two stayed in silence, Greg was examining the ace card and Morgan was looking at the report on Julian Nielsen. She look up and smiled when she saw Greg deep in thought, she always find cute when Greg was deep in thought. It was one of the things she liked the most about him; the other thing was when he smiled, he looked even more handsome than he already was.

Greg looked up from the ace card and frowned when he saw Morgan smiling. "Why are you smiling?" He asked.

"Oh nothing." She answered still smiling. "Just thinking how complicated your life will become when I win the bet and make you my personal assistance."

Greg was about to reply when Russell entered in the room. "I found the victim's address, come on, let's see what we got." He said.


	2. Chapter 2: Lurking from the Darkness

_**A/N: Well, here's chapter two and thank you Foxfire832001 for the review, and CSI:NY will make its debut in one or two chapters, so stay posted.**_

 **Chapter 2: Lurking from the Darkness**

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the CSI team arrived at the victim's address, a house in Ventura way. When they arrived at the scene, Jim greeted them.

"Okay, so the neighbors didn't hear anything and they said Julian rarely left his house during the day." Jim Brass said.

"Okay, thank you Jim." Russell said, Jim nodded and returned to the detectives. The three CSI's grabbed their kits and entered in the crime scene. When they entered in the house, they found with a disturbing scene. There was blood everywhere so the team was very careful, they put on protective footwear and started to take photos of the scene. Greg looked around the living room and took photos; Russell went to the kitchen to investigate the knives to see if one of them was the murder weapon, Morgan found a syringe near one of the blood pools and collected it.

"This looks like a slaughterhouse." Greg said and shuddered slightly.

"Yeah." Morgan said softly.

"The victim died quickly." Greg said looking at the walls of the house.

"How do you know?" Morgan asked.

"See this spraying pattern here?" Greg asked pointing at the blood pattern on the wall, Morgan nodded. "It only took three heartbeats before the victim was dead." He answered.

"And after that, the killer hung him up like an animal." Morgan said looking at the blood pool in the center of the living room. Greg nodded and bent down to take a photo of the blood pool.

"Yeah, the killer waited 'til the victim stopped bleeding and then he took it where we found it."

"You know what the strange thing is?" She asked. Greg looked confused. "Even with all this mess, I don't see any gravitational drops that suggest someone else was here."

"You're right, the killer was very careful when he left the scene with the body." He answered.

"Hey guys." Russell said. "I found a set of knives in the kitchen, I'm taking these back to the lab to see if one of them is the murder weapon." He said showing an evidence bag with the knives inside. "You found anything?"

"I only found this syringe; probably they used it to sedate the victim." Morgan said.

Russell nodded. "Greg, you found something else?" He asked to the younger CSI.

Greg shook his head in return. "Okay, let's finish process the scene and get back to the lab to examine the evidence." Russell said and the two younger CSI's nodded. Thirty minutes later, the CSI's finished processing the scene. They had collected the knives, a syringe, a duct tape and some blood sample to make a toxicological analysis.

* * *

Back at the lab, each one of the CSI's started to examine the evidence they had found; Greg looked over the duct tape he had found; Morgan looked over the syringe that was used to sedate the victim and Russell looked over the knives.

"Hey." Greg said walking into a room. "The duct tape we found on the scene matches with the one that was used to tie the hands of the victim." He said looking at the folder he had in his hands, and then he handed it to Russell.

"I processed the knives, there's no blood on them, the killer probably had the weapon with him and once he finished, he took the weapon with him." Russell answered.

Greg sighed. "This guy is good, he doesn't leave any trace or fingerprints, right now the only thing we have is an ace card and a motive that involves money." He said slightly irritated, then his phone rang. "It's Jim, he says he found Clyde Smithson and they will bring him to the station from questioning, he was one of Nielsen's buyers." The younger CSI said.

"Okay, go and talk with him, maybe he had something against Julian after he was betrayed by him." Greg nodded and headed to the station, in his way he found with Morgan.

"Hey."

"Hey." She answered smiling. "Where are you going?"

"Brass found Clyde Smithson; he's in custody, so I'm going to talk with him now to see what he can tell us about the victim." He said.

"Okay, I'm going with Russell. I have the results of the syringe and the blood sample you took." She said. "So, I see you later?" She asked smiling.

"Yeah." He answered and returned her the smile.

* * *

Minutes later, Greg was with Brass in one of the interrogation rooms sitting in front of a middle age man. The man had green eyes and dark brown hair, his left arm had a tattoo and his right arm had a big scar.

"Good afternoon Mr. Smithson, I'm detective Jim Brass and this is CSI Sanders." Jim said.

"Can you tell me what the hell I'm doing here?" Mr. Smithson asked irritated.

"We want to ask you about an old friend of yours, Julian Nielsen." Jim said.

"You mean that little weasel of Nielsen; the guy sold me so he could reduce his sentence and be free just like a bird." Smithson said.

"Well, I doubt he'll never sell you again." Greg said and showed Smithson the photos of the murder.

"He's dead?" Smithson asked.

"Yeah, he was found hanged in Lake Mead." Jim said. "How did you meet the victim?"

"I met Julian in prison, we were cellmates. He told me he was arrested for drug possession and that was his second time in prison." Smithson said.

"And after that you two become friends?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, after he served his sentence, he still sent me cards and when I came out from prison, we still saw each other once a month." Smithson answered.

"When did you start to buy him drugs?" Jim asked.

"About a month after I got out from prison." Smithson said. "I bought him every week, when he was send to prison for the charge of drug dealing I stopped buying. A few years later, I was arrested, that's when I found out that Julian had sold me to save his butt."

"Wow, sounds like you have a reason to want him dead." Jim said.

"What?" Smithson asked confused. "You think I killed Julian?"

The detective and the CSI nodded. "Mr. Smithson, we found these scratches on Julian's arms and we also found DNA under his fingernails." Greg said while he showed Smithson the photos of the victim's arms. "The DNA we found belongs to you."

"When was the last time you saw Julian?" Brass asked.

"Two days ago. I had a fight with him, okay? I saw him walking down the street, I was angry because he sold me, so I speak with him." Smithson said. "We exchange words and then he pushed me, so I did the same with him." Smithson said and lifted his sleeves to show the scratches Julian did to him.

"Where were you last night?" Jim asked.

"I was with my parole officer. I'm on parole; I can't buy drugs or hang around the neighborhood during the night without company." Smithson said.

"We'll verify that; in the meantime don't try to leave Vegas." Jim said.

Jim and Greg got up and left the interrogation room. "I'll talk to the parole officer to see if Smithson is telling the truth. I'll keep you posted." Jim said.

"Okay, thanks Jim." Greg said and returned to the lab.

* * *

When he returned to the lab, he saw Nick, Sara and Finn were talking with Russell about their case; he continued walking and walked into the break room. He sat down and looked over the reports again. A few minutes later, Morgan walked in.

"Hey, everything went well with Clyde Smithson?" She asked sitting in front of Greg.

"Yeah, Jim is going to talk with his parole officer to confirm his alibi. He knew the victim in prison, but he denied in killing him." He answered and sighed. "What did you find in the syringe?"

"The tox results got a match for diazepam in high concentrations, but no high enough to kill the victim." She answered. "The killer definitely wanted the victim to suffer."

Russell walked into the break room a few minutes later. "Okay, Brass called. Smithson's officer confirmed his alibi; he was visiting him last night." He said.

"This case gets stranger by the minute." Morgan said.

"Okay." Russell said and took off his glasses. "Tell you what; let's go home tonight and tomorrow we will continue with this case." He said and the two younger CSI's agreed. "Okay, see you tomorrow." Russell said and answered his phone while he was walking out from the break room.

"You heard the boss, let's go home." Morgan said.

"Hey, I was thinking." Greg said and for some reason he felt nervous. "Would you like to have breakfast with me?" He asked.

"I'd love to." She answered smiling.

"Okay, let's grab our things and get out of here." He said. The two walked to the locker room and prepared to leave when Nick, Sara and Finn walked in.

"Hey guys." Nick said.

"Hey, how was your case?" Greg asked.

"Good, we had a confession." Sara said.

"Yeah, the guy sang like bird." Finn added and laughed softly.

"I heard yours is a little complicated." The CSI from Texas said.

"Yeah, but we're doing well so far." Morgan said.

"Are you ready?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, let's go." She answered.

"See you guys." Greg said and he and Morgan walked from the locker room to the parking lot. The older CSI's smiled when they saw them walking and chatting together and started to make bets on the two CSI's.

"So, where are we going?" Morgan asked.

"Trust me; you're going to love this place." Greg said. They climbed on the SUV and left the crime lab. Little they knew that from the distance, they were being watched and that someone took photos of the car as it drove away.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Wow, creepy,huh? So, who is watching them? Or it's just one of them? You'll find out soon.**_


	3. Chapter 3: Killer: 2 - CSI: 0

**Chapter 3: Killer: 2 - CSI: 0**

Two weeks later, the murder of Julian Nielsen was still open. The team had found little evidence on the case and they were getting frustrated, so Russell decided to leave it pending until they found more evidence.

Morgan was looking for Greg, she couldn't find him. Since the day they both went for breakfast, she was looking forward to spend more time with him outside the lab. Although she never liked the idea to date a co-worker, her opinion was changing slowly after meeting Greg. It's true that their first meeting was awkward, but after they started working together, she had known him better and discovered that he was funny, sweet, smart, handsome and a great guy.

Morgan passed the break room and stopped, she turned around and walked in. Nick and Finn were there having a cup of coffee, they smiled at her when she approached to them.

"Hi, guys." Morgan said.

"Hey." Finn said.

"Hey Morgan, what's up?" Nick asked.

"Have you…um…seen Greg?" She asked.

"He went to a crime scene with Sara." Nick answered. "They left ten minutes ago."

"Oh…well, I wanted to talk with him, but I'll talk with him when he comes back." Morgan answered. She was about to left the break room when Russell came in.

"Okay guys." He said to the three CSI's. "I have a case for you guys, possible suicide in Desert Hills, David is going to meet you there." D.B. gave Nick the folder of the case. Nick, Finn and Morgan headed to the parking lot and went to Desert Hills to star processing the scene. Russell returned to his office, in his way, he met with Jim.

"Hey Jim." Russell said.

"Hey D.B." Jim answered. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.

"Sure." Russell answered. "Let's go to my office."

When they arrived at Russell's office, Jim sat opposite from Russell. "So, what's up?" Russell asked.

"Have you heard of Clyde Smithson lately?" Jim asked.

Russell frowned and shook his head. "No, he's still a suspect in the murder of Julian Nielsen." He answered. "Is something wrong?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah, his parole officer hasn't heard of him in two days and no one has seen him at work."

"Do you have his address?" Russell asked.

Jim took out his notepad and checked. "Yeah, you want to go and see if he's there?"

"Absolutely." Russell answered.

* * *

While Nick was driving through the streets, Finn and Morgan were talking. "So, how's the case of Nielsen going?" Finn asked.

Morgan sighed. "It's going well despite of the little evidence we have." She said.

"I heard you have a suspect." Nick said still focus on the road.

"Yeah, he knew the victim, but denies in killing him." Morgan answered. "Let's hope we can find this killer as soon as we find more evidence." She said.

"I'm sure you'll catch him." Nick said and parked the car. "Okay, here we are." The three CSI's got out from the SUV; they took their kits and headed to the motel room.

* * *

"Okay, here we are." Jim said as he parked his car in front of Clyde Smithson's house. "His neighbors haven't seen him in the last two days." Jim said.

"Let's see if Mr. Smithson is at home." Russell said getting out from the car. Russell, Jim and two officers walked to the front door and Jim knocked.

"Clyde Smithson, Las Vegas police." Jim said. They waited a few seconds and Jim knocked again. "Mr. Smithson, open the door. We want to talk to you." Jim said again and waited. After a few minutes of no response, Jim and the officers took their guns and opened the door. They entered in the house and searched the place; they didn't found anything until they entered in Smithson's bedroom.

"Hey D.B.!" Jim said from the bedroom. "You better come here and see this."

Russell walked into the bedroom and gasped when he saw the scene. "Oh, God." He said. "I need to call Greg and Morgan. The killer is back."

* * *

Greg and Sara were still taking photos and collecting evidence from their crime scene when Greg's phone rang.

"Sanders." He answered.

" _Greg!"_ D.B. voice said from the other side. " _Are you still at the overdose scene?"_ He asked.

"Yeah." Greg answered. "Sara and I are finishing processing the scene. We'll return to the lab in five minutes. Something's wrong?" He asked when he heard his boss very worried.

" _Greg, the killer of the Julian Nielsen case is back."_ D.B. said. Greg froze when he heard it. "Who…who is the victim?" He asked.

" _It's Clyde Smithson."_ D.B. answered.

"Are you sure it's the same killer?" Greg asked and frowned. Sara looked at Greg as he paced anxiously around the place.

" _Yeah, it's the same M.O. We found Clyde hanged up and there's a lot of blood in the scene consistent with exsanguination."_ D.B. answered. _"I need you here."_

"Have you spoke with Morgan?" Greg asked.

" _No, I haven't. Can you call her and tell her we have another victim?"_ D.B. said.

"Sure. I'll tell her." Greg answered.

" _I'll sent you the adress of the victim. Tell Sara that the guys of day shift will help her with the case."_ D.B. said.

"Okay, I'll tell her. We'll see you there." Greg said. D.B. said goodbye and Greg hanged up his phone.

"Everything's okay?" Sara asked.

"No. Do you remember the case I told you a week ago?" Greg asked.

"They guy hanged up and whose troath was cut?" She asked. Greg nodded. "Yeah." Sara said.

"We found another victim." Greg said concerned.

"It's the same guy?" Sara asked.

"According to Russell, yes. It's the same guy." Greg answered. "He wants me in the crime scene."

"Go, then. I'm sure I can handled this alone." Sara said.

"Thanks, Russell said that you'll have help from others." Greg said. Sara nodded and before he could left, he called Morgan to tell her about the news.

" _Brody._ " Her voice answered after a few minutes.

"Morgan." Greg said.

" _Hey, Greg_." She smiled when she heard his voice. " _What's up?_ "

"The killer from the Julian Nielsen case is back." He answered.

" _What?!_ " She asked shocked. " _Who told you?"_

"Russell, he found the victim." Greg answered.

Morgan sighed. " _Who's the victim?_ "

"Clyde Smithson." He answered and sighed. "Russell wants us in the crime scene."

" _Do you have the victim's address?"_

"Yeah, I'm on my way to pick you up, it's that okay?"

" _Yeah, sure. I'll wait you here_." She said. " _I'm in The Desert Hills Motel."_

"Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Greg said and hanged up.

* * *

After picking Morgan up from the crime scene where she had went with Nick and Finn, she and Greg went with Russell to Smithson's house and help him processing the scene. When they arrived, they found Russell in the front of the house. They got out from the car and took their kits.

"Hey guys." Russell said and led them to the victim's bedroom. "Here is it."

Morgan and Greg entered in the bedroom and looked around; everything was covered in blood like the scene from Julian Nielsen case, except that this time the victim was hanged up from the ceiling.

"Hi Doc." Morgan said when she saw Doc Robbins.

"Hey." Doc Robbins answered, he waited until the body was lowered and laid him on the stretcher, then he examined the victim. "The victim has been dead for at least 48 hours. Cause of death: exsanguination due to a cut on the victim's throat." He said removing the rope from the victim's neck.

Greg took the rope and put it in an evidence bag. "It is consistent what Jim told Russell; Smithson didn't contact his parole officer in two days." He said.

Robbins nodded and said "I'll tell you more once I make the autopsy." He told his assistants to take the body and they put it in the van to return to the lab.

The three CSI's started to take photos of the crime scene and searched for evidence. Greg looked around the bedroom and he found a syringe on the floor, he took a photo and he put it away on an evidence box. He looked at the arterial spraying on the walls and looked at the blood pool on the floor and thought how someone could come clean after cutting somebody's throat.

"This is just like the other crime scene." Greg said.

Morgan looked up from her camera. "What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"How can you come out clean after cutting someone's throat?" Greg asked. "I mean, I don't see any blood trails that indicate us that the killer walked away from the scene." Greg said starting to sound a little irritated.

"You're right, unless the killer got behind the victim and then he cut the throat." Morgan said. "Look, let's return to the lab, the faster we solve the case, the sooner I'll have a personal assistance." She said with a teasing smile.

"Ha ha, very funny." Greg said with sarcasm but a smirk appeared in his face.

When they collected all the evidence, the three CSI's returned to the lab. Russell went with Doc Robbins to see what he had about the victim, while Morgan and Greg started to process the evidence.

"I don't see any fibers or traces on the rope." Morgan said examining the rope. "Just the blood of the victim on." She said and sighed.

"Yeah, I don't see any fingerprints on the tape the killer used to tie the hands of the victim." Greg said looking at the piece of tape he had collected at the scene. "This is the same M.O." He said. "No trace, fibers or fingertips on the evidence, just the DNA of the victim."

"Wait, there's something we haven't checked." Morgan said and grabbed a brown bag that was on the table; she opened it and took out the victim's clothes. She took the victim's pants and checked the pockets; she didn't found anything in the left pocket, but when she checked the right pocket...

"Look what I found." She said showing him the ace card.

"Yep, it's him. This guy is back." Greg answered. When, Russell walked into the layout room.

"Doc found traces of Diazepam in high concentrations. But he didn't found anything else." Russell said. "What do you have?"

"I didn't find fibers on the rope, but I did find an ace card." Morgan answered.

"I didn't found anything on the tape, but the syringe had traces of Diazepam." Greg said.

"All the evidence indicates it's the same guy, right?" Russell said and took off his glasses.

The two CSI's nodded. "We will need to look deeper on the records of both victim's to see if they had game problems." Greg said.

"I'll talk to Jim." Russell said and left the layout room. Silence fell on the room as the two CSI's continued examining the evidence, until Morgan broke the silence,

"Hey, I never asked you about the tire marks" She said.

"What?" Greg asked confused.

"The tire marks you found in the second scene?"

"Oh, yeah." Greg answered. "I found that they belong to a pick- up, model 2006. Unfourtunately, there are lot of them here in Vegas."

"And without a plate finding the pick-up will be more complicated." Morgan said.

"Yeah."

Thirty minutes later, Jim walked into the layout room. "Okay, so I talked to Smithson's older brother. The brother lives in North Carolina and he said he hasn't heard of Clyde since he got out from prison." Jim said.

"Did he tell you if Clyde had a gambling problem?" Greg asked.

Jim shook his head. "No, the brother told me that the only thing he knew about his younger brother was that he was in a high school gang. They were called: The Streetsters." As soon as Jim finished his sentence, Greg's brown eyes widen with shock and he turned pale.

Jim looked at Greg and frowned, "Are you okay, Greg?" He asked. Morgan looked up and glance at Greg.

"Are you fine?" She asked.

"Yeah, just I remember one of my friends told me about that high school gang." Greg answered.

"Did he know them?" Jim asked.

"I guess, I don't know. I haven't seen him since college." Greg answered. "Excuse me." He said and left the layout room and went to get some air.

"Okay." Jim said as he and Morgan saw Greg leaving the layout room. "So, the leaders of the gang were sent to the correctional, after they went out, the state lost all tracks on them and their families."

"Do you have something else?" Morgan asked feeling a little worried for Greg. She wanted to find him and ask him if he was fine.

"No, I'll also look on Nielsen's background; he never had any arrests until he turned eighteen." Jim said.

"What about his family?" Morgan asked.

"He was only child and their parents died two years after his last arrest." Jim said.

"Okay, thanks Jim." Morgan said and left the layout room to find Greg. She asked Judy where Greg had gone and Judy told her that she saw Greg leaving the lab. Morgan thanked her and left the lab, she found Greg sitting on a bench, so she took a deep breath and walked to him. "Hey." She said sitting beside him.

"Hey." He answered and managed a small smile for her.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just…needed some fresh air."

The both stayed in silence form a while; Morgan wanted to ask Greg if he was really okay. In the time she had known him, Greg was always smiling and he rarely showed sadness or anger during work (except for the time when Morgan was kidnapped a couple of months ago).

She smiled softly when she remembered what her dad had told her when he saw Greg's reaction. Maybe at first she didn't notice, but after her kidnapping, she realized she had a crush on him.

She took a deep breath and said, "Hey, I haven't had the chance to tell you that I really enjoyed breakfast two weeks ago."

"Yeah, I also enjoyed going for breakfast with you." He answered.

"You know, there's something I have been waiting to ask you." She said placing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"Sure." He answered.

Morgan was about to ask something at Greg when Russell interrupted them.

"Guys, we have another victim."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Another victim sums up for Las Vegas crime lab. And why did Greg turned pale when he heard the gang's name? You'll find out soon and maybe in the next chapter Mac and the rest of the team will make their appearence. Thanks for reviewing and following this story. :)**_


	4. Chapter 4: The Big Apple

_**A/N: Hey guys, here is chapter 4 and yeah, Mac and the team had made their appearance and soon the CSI's from Vegas will learn that the killer is in New York. But for now, let's see how the NY team deals with the mysterious killer. Thanks again for the reviews!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4:The Big Apple**

The CSI's arrived at the crime scene; they were starting to get annoyed at not finding more evidence that could lead them to the killer. When they arrived at the crime scene – an abandoned storage – Jim greeted them.

"The victim is called Jacob Douglas. 60. He lived in New York." Jim said showing the victim's license. "I talked to his wife; he came to Vegas for an old reunion with his friends. He arrived three days ago."

"Do you know where he was staying?" Russell asked.

"Yeah, he was staying at the Mirage. I'm going there right now to talk with his friends. I´ll keep you posted." Jim said, Russell thanked him and Jim left.

When he approached to the other two CSI's, he noticed Greg had found something. "Do you found anything?" Russell asked.

"Yeah." Greg said a little irritated. "I found this in his pocket." He said showing Russell the ace card. "This guy is becoming dangerous."

"Yeah, I know. It's been a day since we found Clyde and this guy killed again." Russell said and sighed. "Okay, we will do this just like the other two crime scenes, but this time I want all the team in this, we'll find this killer." Russell said and dialed Finn's number; while he was talking with Finn, Morgan approached to Greg.

"Are you fine?" She asked.

"Yeah." He answered and shook his head. "Things are getting complicated."

She nodded. "I know, don't worry, we'll find him." She said and gave him a soft smile and he smiled in return.

After finding the third victim, the team worked everyday on the case to see if they had found new evidence, but as the days passed, the evidence was still the same. Slowly, the days became weeks and the weeks became months, new cases for the crime lab started to arrive and the leads of the case of the unknown killer who hanged up his victims got cold and they thought the killer wasn't in Vegas anymore. Little they knew that the killer was planning his return…

* * *

 _ **Six months later…**_

 **New York City, NY.**

The high buildings were the landscape for this big city, everywhere where you look; you'd find the same store in the same avenue and lot of food stands, but also a lot of police officers wearing their distinctive blue uniform.

It had been a couple of rough months for the New York crime lab, from trying to rescue a college student from a fraternity prank that went bad to re-examine an old case the former FBI agent Jo Danville had and helping her to catch a rapist (which ended with the death of the rapist), but slowly, they were returning back to normal.

A black Pick-up parked near Washington Square Park and two persons got out from the black Pick-up. One of the was a man who had short brown hair and bluish- gray eyes, the other one was a woman with long dark hair and brown eyes, they were using clothes that were appropriate for the climate in New York - when the winter was almost there - and you couldn't guess they were CSI's if not were for the silver kits they had in their hands. They passed the police tape and were greeted by a detective with Irish heritage.

"Hey, Mac." The detective said to the man.

"What do we have?" Mac asked to the dark haired detective.

"Unknown male, mid 20's." The detective said as he led the two CSI's to a tree were the victim was hanged up.

"Who found him?" The woman asked.

"A man that was walking his dog." The detective said and pointed the witness that was talking with a police officer.

"Okay, thanks Flack." The woman said and she and the other detective whose name was Mac Taylor approached to the body.

"Hi, Sheldon." Mac said to an Afro-American man that was examining the body.

"Hi Mac, hi Jo." Sheldon said to the detectives.

"What do you have?" Jo asked.

"Looks like the victim was hanged up and someone didn't want us to know his face." Sheldon said and pointed to the piece of cloth that was covering the victim's face.

"Do you know the time of death?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, the victim has been dead for at least eight hours." Sheldon answered. "I'll take him with Sid to see what he can tell us more about our victim." Sheldon said and he and some people of the medical examiner's team helped Sheldon to low the body and they took him to the M.E.'s.

Once the van was away; Mac, Jo and Sheldon started to process the scene. They looked carefully and saw that there weren't any blood pools on the grass or near the body; they also didn't find any drag marks that suggested the killer had dragged the body. While they were walking around the tree, Sheldon discovered a boot print near the base of tree, he took his camera out and took a photo of the foot print, then he used plaster to make a mold of the boot print and when the plaster dried, Sheldon took the mold and put it in an evidence bag.

Mac approached to the tree trunk and looked it carefully, he didn't see anything from the ordinal, but just to be sure, he took a small cylinder to collect epithelial, Jo walked a few meters away from the crime scene and found a duct tape near the sidewalk, she took a photo of it and then put in on an evidence bag. After collecting all the evidence, the three return to the crime lab.

* * *

Once the CSI's arrived back at the lab, Mac went with Jo to autopsy to see if the Medical Examiner had found something on the victim.

"Hey, Sid." Jo said to a middle age man that was near the body.

"Hey guys." Sid answered.

"What do you have?" Mac asked.

"At first I thought the victim had died by strangulation, but when I loosened the rope around his neck I discovered a cut." Sid said showing the cut on the victim's neck. "The official C.O.D is exsanguination, your victim's throat was cut." Sid said.

"You found something else?" Jo asked.

"Ah, yes." Sid said and put his glasses on. "I found this puncture wound on the victim's neck, I already took a sample of the blood that was left and send it to tox." He said grabbing a magnifying glass and showed to the detectives the puncture wound.

"Looks like a syringe." Mac said.

"Yeah, he was probably sedated." Sid said.

"That could explain that the victim doesn't have any defend marks." Jo said.

"True, but I did find this." Sid said and grabbed the victim's hand. "Looks like the victim had a fight two or three days before he was killed." He said and grabbed a small jar that had something inside and gave it to Mac. "I took this out from the wound of the victim's hand, but I don't know what it is."

"Thanks, Sid." Mac said. Sid nodded and the two detectives left Autopsy.

* * *

Once they were upstairs, Mac walked into one of the labs. "Hawkes, what do you have on the boot print?" He asked.

"It's from a work boot, size 12. I couldn't see what kind of brand the boot is, the print suggest that the killer puts all his weight on his tiptoes and heels." Sheldon answered.

"Okay, keep working on that and tell me what you got." Mac said and Sheldon nodded. Mac left the room and headed to his office when a detective of an Italian heritage approached to him. "Hey, Mac." The young detective said with a Staten Island accent and walked beside Mac.

"Hi, Danny. You found something?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, I analyzed the blood Sid sent and found traces of high concentrations of Diazepam in the victim's blood." Danny answered and gave Mac the file.

"How high?" Mac asked checking the file.

"High enough to knock the victim out, but not high enough to kill him." Danny answered. "I also analyzed the rope that was used to hang the victim and I only found his blood, no fibers, no fingerprints, nothing." Danny said.

"Okay, continue analyzing the rope, maybe the killer left something behind we haven't see." Mac said.

"Sure." Danny said and left. Mac entered in his office and sat on his chair behind his desk. He grabbed the folder that had the photos from the crime scene and began to see the photos, just then, Jo walked into the room.

"Hey, I find the victim's name." She said and gave Mac the file she was holding.

"I introduced the fingertips that Sid took on the database and got a match on missing people." Jo said happily and sat across Mac.

"Victim's name was Gabriel Romero, age 26. Who reported him?" Mac asked.

"His girlfriend, she said he didn't come back home yesterday and became worried when he didn't call her." Jo said, but frowned when she saw Mac lost in thought. "Mac, are you fine?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I think I have heard that name before." Mac answered.

"Really?" Jo asked surprised.

"There is a retired police officer called Mario Romero and I remember he always talked about his older son and how proud he was that his son was studying to become an engineer." Mac said.

"Good Lord." Jo said.

"I'll make Flack contact officer Romero and bring him here." Mac said and left to talk with Flack.

* * *

Two hours later, Mac was in the police station with Flack, they were waiting for Officer Romero to arrive. "Are you sure is Gabriel?" Flack asked.

Mac nodded. "Yes, Jo gave me the file with Gabriel's fingertips." He said.

Flack sighed sadly. "Damn it, this is going to break Mario." He said while he was running his hand through his black short hair.

Just then, a middle age man, probably in his fifties, with dark brown hair and a kind face walked through the door of the station and many veteran detectives and officers greeted them, finally he approached to Flack's desk.

"Don Flack Jr." Mario said as Flack got up and hugged the man.

"Hey, Mario." Flack said returning the hug. "How's everything?" He asked.

"Good, I have more time to spend with my kids than I used to." Mario answered, then he turned his head to Mac's direction. "Detective Taylor." He said extending his hand.

"Officer Romero." Mac answered and shook hands with the former officer.

"So, what I am doing here?" Mario asked. Mac and Flack shared a glance. "Mario, we need to discuss this in private." Flack said with a serious tone.

* * *

Jo was in the layout room looking all the photos from the scene to see if there was something they hadn't see when a young woman with short and brown hair walked into the room.

"Hey, Jo." The woman said.

"Hey Lindsay." Jo said. "Did you found something in the victim's clothes?" She asked.

Lindsay nodded and showed her an ace card that was in an evidence bag. "I found this inside one of the victim's pants pocket." She said.

"An ace card?" Jo asked looking at the card. "Did you analyze it?"

"Yeah, but I didn't find anything." Lindsay answered. "You think the victim had a gambling addiction?" She asked.

"I don't know. Mac is talking with the victim's father." Jo said and took out her cellphone. "I'll tell him about the ace card, thanks Lindsay." She said and the younger detective nodded and left the room.

* * *

"Are you sure is him?" Mario asked almost in the edge of tears.

"Yes. I'm sorry." Mac answered.

"How did this happen?" Mario asked.

"We're still investigating." Mac said, just then his cellphone rang, while he checked his cellphone, Flack continued talking with Mario.

"When was the last time you spoke with Gabriel?"

"Four days ago." Mario answered and sniffed. "He called me to tell me that he was being promoted. He said his boss was transferring him to the West."

"Where?" Flack asked.

"I don't know." Mario answered.

"Mr. Romero, did you know if Gabriel had gambling problems or owed money to someone?" Mac asked.

Mario shook his head. "No, my son wasn't like that. He never liked that kind of games and about owing someone money, I don't know." He said. "Why are you asking?"

Mac sighed and took out his cellphone and showed Mario the photo of the ace card. "We found this inside Gabriel's pants pocket. We believe the killer left it there as a message." Mac said.

After talking a little more with Gabriel's dad and promising they will keep him posted on his son's death, Mac returned to the lab and was greeted by Danny.

"Hey Mac." Danny said.

"Hey Danny." Mac said as they both walked into Mac's office.

"So, I analyzed the tape that was used to tie the victim up, but I didn't found any fingertips, just like the rope. My best guess, the killer used gloves." Danny said.

"What about the fragment Sid took out from the victim's hand?" Mac asked.

"Adam analyzed it; the fragment Sid took out from the victim's wound resulted to be part of a tooth." Danny said looking at the file in his hands.

"What about the DNA?" Mac asked sitting on his chair.

"It belongs to an unknown male; he's not in the system. And we still need to find the primary scene." Danny said.

"I'll ask Flack to look in the company's records to see if there are any abandoned buildings where the killer could take Gabriel." Mac said.

* * *

A few hours later, Flack called Mac to tell him he had found an abandoned storage a few blocks away where Gabriel's body had been dumped. Mac called the team and they headed to the abandoned storage.

"The records say the storage has been abandoned for a year now, and the company told me Gabriel was in charge of inspecting the storage before they approved the project." Flack said when he saw the CSI's walking to greet him.

"Okay, let's see what's inside." Mac said while an officer cut the lock on the door and opened it.


	5. Chapter 5: Another one

_**A/N: Hey guys, it took me a while but I finished the chapter. School stuff kept me busy, also I wanted to finish the chapter before I start exams and prepare for the admission exam for college. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying the story, thanks for following and reviewing, I'll see you around and I'll be back after exams.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Another one.**

Once the door opened, Flack and some officers walked in and searched the place, the team walked into the storage and they turned on their flashlights. While the officers and Flack were securing the place, the team looked around the dark storage.

"Mac!" Danny said.

"What did you find, Danny?" Mac asked approaching to Danny.

"Look at this." Danny said and he illuminated something on the floor with his flashlight.

"A boot print." Mac said looking at the bloody boot print on the floor. He looked up and pointed his flashlight. "It seems to come from that direction." He said. ||

The team followed the boot prints and they got deeper into the storage until one of the boot prints was cut by a door. Mac called Flack and the detective and some of his officers approached to the door. Mac and the team put their kits down and took their guns. Flack's hand slowly reached for the knob of the door, he looked at Mac and he nodded in return. He turned the knob and opened the door. Everyone entered in the room, but when they saw the room, they lowered their guns and some of them gasped.

The team grabbed their kits and started to process the scene, they found a really disturbing scene, there were blood everywhere and the blood pool on the floor looked like a total mess, the killer had pass over Gabriel's blood and left boot prints everywhere around the small room. The team was very careful while they were taking photos and collecting evidence, they collected a syringe and took photos of the boot prints, but that was the only evidence they found. When the team was leaving the scene, Mac stayed behind and saw something that called his attention.

"Mac, are you ready to return to the lab?" Jo asked, but Mac stood there looking at something near a table and started walking to the table.

"Mac?" Jo asked and followed Mac. He stopped beside the table and took something that was on it. He examined it and turned around, Jo saw he was frowning, he looked up from he was examining and gave it to Jo, she gasped when she saw what was it. It was a photo of Gabriel's family; He was in the middle, next to him were his two younger siblings; a boy and a girl and behind the three kids were their parents, but the disturbing thing about the photo was that it was covered in blood.

* * *

A few hours later, Mac was in his office looking over Gabriel's record to see if he had any troubles with someone, but he didn't found anything. In the two years Gabriel had been working for the company, he never had troubles with anyone.

"Hey Mac." Jo's voice broke Mac's thoughts.

"Do you have anything?" He asked.

"Lindsay analyzed the photo covered in blood you found. The DNA resulted to be from Gabriel." Jo answered and gave the file to Mac.

"What about the syringe we found at the scene?" Mac asked as he was looking at the file with the results.

"Hawkes analyzed it and he didn't found any fingerprints on the syringe, but he found traces of Diazepam. It was used to sedate Gabriel." Jo answered. "What about the security cameras near the scene?"

"Adam is still looking the videos of the day Gabriel was murdered. Let's hope we can identify this killer and give answers to Mario." Mac answered.

"You think this could be some kind of personal revenge?" Jo asked.

"What do you mean?" Mac asked confused.

"By the way Gabriel was killed, there was too much hate and they wanted him to suffer." Jo said.

"Probably the killer didn't want Gabriel to suffer; instead he wanted Mario to suffer. The killer must be related to one of Mario's old cases, I'm going to ask for his career record." Mac said.

"You think someone held a grudge against him?" Jo asked.

"Probably." Mac said, his cellphone rang a few seconds later, he took it and read the message. "It's Adam; he has something on the surveillance video." He said and went to the A/V lab.

"Okay Adam, what do you have?" He asked.

"Hey boss, I was looking all the videos from the night the victim was killed, and I found this." Adam said and showed Mac the video. The video – that was from a building - showed Gabriel walking towards the abandoned storage, when two men using black hoods approached to Gabriel and dragged him to the storage, a few hours later, the men left the storage with a bundle on their backs, they got out from the camera view and nothing else appeared on the tape.

"That's all I found in the video, I tried to see the killers' face but there was no luck, they never showed their face to the camera." Adam explained.

"Did you see if they got out from a car or a van?" Mac asked.

Adam shook his head. "No, if they brought their car, it's out of camera." He said.

"Okay, thanks Adam." Mac said to the young tech and left the lab.

* * *

The next day, the team was still looking the evidence from Gabriel's murder; Mac was in his office trying to establish a relation between Mario and his older cases with the career record.

"Hey Mac." Danny said walking into Mac's office.

"Hey Danny." Mac said.

"So, were these all the cases Officer Romero worked before retirement?" Danny asked looking at the chart with names on it.

"Yes, his record started here as a patrolman, after he married and Gabriel was born, the family moved to Nevada, where he started his official career as police officer. He spent eight years in Las Vegas, after that he returned to New York where he worked until his retirement three years ago." Mac said.

"What about these names?" Danny said pointing at the chart.

"I checked them, half of the names here are still serving sentence, twelve are dead and the other half are cases from Las Vegas. I'll call Flack and ask him to talk to the sheriff of Las Vegas to see if they can give us Mario's old cases." Mac said.

"Sounds like a good plan for me." Danny said, then Mac cellphone rang and he answered.

"Taylor." Mac said.

"Where?" He asked with a surprised face. "Okay, I'm on my way." He said and hanged up.

"What is it?" Danny asked when he noticed Mac's frown.

"We have another victim." Mac said.

* * *

Forty five minutes later, Mac and Jo arrived at the Trinity Church, where a bunch of people were gathering. Flack came to greet the team. "Hey guys." He said.

"Hey Flack, what do you have?" Jo asked.

"I know we had have cases in churches, but this time, the guy entered in majors. Come and take a look." Flack said. Mac and Jo passed the police tape and walked into the big church, when they reached near the altar, they saw the body hanging from a crossbar from the second floor.

"Wow." Jo said when she and Mac looked up to see better the body.

"Who found the body?" Mac asked still looking at the body.

"The priest." Flack said pointing at the priest who was talking with the police. "He was preparing the church for the mass when he saw a pool of blood on the floor, he looked up and saw the body, then he called the 911." He said.

"Hey Mac, don't you see something familiar by the way the victim was hanged up?" Jo asked.

"It's the same from Gabriel's murder, it's the same killer." Mac said.

Jo and Mac started to process the scene; a few minutes later, Lindsay, Danny and Hawkes arrived at the scene, they were surprised when they saw the victim hanged up upside down.

"Wow." Lindsay said.

"Yeah." Danny said.

"Okay, Danny; you and Hawkes are going to process the second floor. Lindsay, I need you to take photos of the blood pool and also to process part of this area. Let's get to work." Mac ordered and the team split and started to take photos and collecting evidence. Danny and Sheldon found a syringe and spraying blood on the floor. Hawkes took photos of the body, meanwhile Lindsay took photos from the blood pool and collected some fibers that were near the blood pool. Once the team finished taking photos and collecting evidence, the team lowered the body and Hawkes checked the victim's temperature.

"He's been dead for six hours, looks like the original cause of death was exsangunation. Sid will tell us more when he checks the body." Hawkes said.

"Okay." Mac said. Sheldon and the examiner's team took the body back to the autopsy. A few hours later, Mac and the team returned to the lab and as soon as they arrived, Mac recived a text from Sid saying that he had the inform on the victim's death.

"Sid." Mac said.

"Hey Mac." Sid said.

"You said you' ve found something?" Mac asked.

"Yeah." Sid said. "You better want to see this before anyone." Sid said and put his glasses on. "When I took the pice of cloth from his face I found this." He said and pointed at the victim's face. Mac noticed that from the eyes of the victim were supposed to be there was blood running down.

"Wait, the killer took out the eyes?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, but for the lack of blood, I can say that the killer took the victim's eyes _post- portem_ . He definitly wanted the victim to suffer; also I found a puncture wound on his neck. I already sent a sample upstairs." Sid said.

"Did you find something else?" Mac asked.

"Yes, the victim had his throat cut. The first victim with the same pattern was killed…" Sid said but Mac cut him off.

"Two days ago." Mac answered.

""You think we're dealing with a serial killer?" Sid asked.

"Let's hope not, we better found this killer before another body shows up." Mac said and returned upstairs. While he was returning to his office, he saw Chief Sinclair waiting outside his office.

"Chief." Mac said. "What brings you here?" He asked as he shook hands with Sinclair.

"Hello, Mac. Can we talk in your office?" Sinclair asked.

"Sure. Come in." Mac said as he indicated the Chief of Detectives to pass. Once inside, Sinclair sat on the couch in Mac's office while Mac decided to sit on the other couch.

"I heard what happened with Officer Romero's son. He was a good boy." Sinclair said.

"Yeah." Mac said.

"I know you asked for Romero's arrest record." Sinclair said.

"Yeah, we think this is some kind of personal revenge, maybe some guy he arrested developed regret towards Mario and he wanted him to suffer. That's why he killed Gabriel." Mac answered.

"And I heard you found another body." Sinclair said.

Mac stared at Sinclair before answer. _News always travels fast._ He though. "Yeah."

"It's the same killer?" Sinclair asked.

Mac sighed. "We are not sure right now, but everything indicates it the same killer." He said.

"Do you know who the victim is?" Sinclair asked.

Mac shook his head. "We're still waiting for the results of the fingertips." He said, a few moments later, Danny walked into Mac's office.

"Hey, Mac." Danny said but stopped when he saw Sinclair. "Chief." He said.

"Detective Messer." Sinclair answered.

"What did you got Danny?" Mac asked.

"I have the ID of the victim." Danny said and gave Mac the folder. "And you are not going to like this." He said crossing his arms.

Mac read the file and frowned; he looked up at Danny and asked: "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Danny answered. "I checked twice, it's him Mac."

"Who is it?" Sinclair asked confused.

Mac sighed and gave Sinclair the folder, when he read it his eyes went wide and stared at Mac with a surprised face. "Judge Thompson is your victim?" He asked and Mac nodded in return. "The worst part is that the bastard took his eyes. He's trying to send a message." Mac said.

"I need to talk with the mayor." Sinclair said getting up from the couch, but Mac stopped him.

"Chief, wait. We need to be sure if it's the same killer before we can tell the city we have a serial killer." Mac said.

Sinclair stared at Mac and sighed. "Okay, I'll give you one day to solve this, if you and your team can't identify the killer, I'll call for a press conference and you are going to answer all questions planted." He said.

Mac nodded in return and Sinclair left the lab. A few hours later, everyone in the lab was analyzing the evidence they had found at the church; Lindsay processed the duct tape and the fibers she had found near the blood pool, Danny processed the rope that was used to hang the victim and also processed the clothes of the judge, finding the same ace card in the victim's left pocket. Hawkes analyzed the blood and found traces of high levels of Diazepam in the victim's system, every piece of evidence they were processing pointed it was the same killer. Meanwhile, Mac was trying to solve a mystery, how could anyone leave the scene without leaving a blood trial? He was about to resolve the mystery with the dummies he had in one of the labs, he started to cut the throat of the dummies and saw the spraying pattern of every dummy, he noticed the killer stood behind the judge when he cut his throat.

Danny was passing by one of the labs when he heard a frustrated groan. "C'mon, you gotta be kidding' me." He heard Lindsay's voice. He frowned and walked into the lab.

"Linds, are you okay?" He asked standing next to his wife.

"No, I was processing the duct tape and I found a hair on the tape, but when I passed the sample through the database there was no match." Lindsay answered and gave Danny the result.

"The DNA found in the hair belongs to an unknown male, but also matches the DNA on the tooth we found in Gabriel's hand." Danny said as he read the results.

"Yeah, did you have any luck with the rope?" Lindsay asked.

"Nope, I processed the rope and the ace card I found in the victim's pocket, but they are clean, I didn't found fibers or DNA that belongs to the killer." Danny said. "I guess they're two to zero on the failure score of the Messer family." He said sarcastically and Lindsay laughed softly.

Mac was in the layout room looking at the photos of the crime scene, when Jo walked into the room. "Hey Mac." She said.

Mac looked up briefly. "Hey, you have something?" He asked.

"Hawkes find the same trace of high levels of Diazepam in the victim's blood and Lindsay analyzed a hair she found on the duct tape, but it belongs to an unknown male." She answered. "What are you doing?"

"I was looking the photos of the crime scene, see what's missing?" He asked handing Jo a photo.

"There's no blood trail." She answered.

"Correct, so I was wondering how anyone could leave the scene without leaving a blood trail and I tried to answer the question, the killer stood behind the judge after sedated him and cut his throat." He explained.

"But he couldn't have hanged the victim by himself." Jo said.

"That's where our unknown male enters, he must be a compliance. The killer is very careful, we can see it in no leaving any evidence that can lead us to him, but his partner must be a rookie." Mac said.

"That's why we have found fibers and DNA at the crime scenes, he's not careful at helping the killer." Jo said.

The hours passed and Mac and the team couldn't find more evidence that lead them to the killer or his compliance, Mac and Flack talked with the ex-wife of the judge and she told them she didn't know anyone that could hurt judge Thompson, so they asked the old cases of the judge, but before the cases arrived at the lab, the day Sinclair had gave them to check the evidence ended, so when Mac was returning at his office after been interviewed by the reporters outside of the building about the judge's death, he found Sinclair waiting for him in his office.

"Chief." He said walking into his office.

"Time's up, Mac." Sinclair said. "You found something?" He asked.

"We discovered it's the same killer from Gabriel's murder, but we didn't discover his identity, the only thing I can tell you is that he has a partner." Mac answered.

Sinclair sighed. "I'll call the mayor, and be ready if he wants a press conference." He said and left Mac's office.

"I'll be ready." Mac answered as Sinclair left his office.

* * *

 **Las Vegas, NV.**

It had been six months since the murders of Julian Nielsen, Clyde Smithson and Jacob Douglas and the leads of the murders were getting cold. But also during this time, Greg and Morgan had made a routine, once in a while they had breakfast or lunch together and sometimes they went for a beer after the end of their shift. Morgan felt ready to take another step in her relation with Greg, so one afternoon at the start of the shift, she was looking for him.

"Who are you looking for?" Hodges asked her when he saw her wandering around the lab.

"I'm looking for Greg. Have you seen him?" She asked.

"Yeah, he just returned from court, I saw him in the locker room." Hodges answered.

"Thanks Hodges." Morgan said and headed to the locker room. In the locker room, Greg was sitting on the bench reading an invitation he had received.

Morgan peeked inside the locker room and saw Greg sitting on the bench, she smiled and walked in. "Hey." She said.

Greg turned and smiled at her. "Hey." He said as he put the invitation in his pocket.

"You have a High School reunion?" She asked.

"Why?" He asked confused.

"Because I saw the invitation you just put in your pocket." She answered and sat next to him.

Greg smiled. "It's not a High School reunion, the parents of one of my friends are going to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and he sent me the invitation to the party." He said.

"So you need a hot date?" She said.

"What?" Greg asked surprised. "No, I mean... I still don't know if I'll go." He said and laughed softly.

They sat in silence until Nick stood in the doorway. "Guys." The CSI said and Greg and Morgan looked at him. "What's up Nick?" Greg asked confused when he saw his friend with a worried look in his face.

"It's about the case of the mysterious killer you haven't close." Nick answered. "You'll want to see this." He said.


	6. Chapter 6: Las VegasNYC nonstop

_**A/N: I'm baaack! I finally finished exams, and to celebrate this memorable ocassion, here's chapter 6. Let's see how the Vegas crime lab reacts asfter finding the serial killer is in New York. Also some cute interaction between Greg and Morgan. Thanks for those who whished me luck. It's so good to be back.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Las Vegas/ NYC nonstop.**

 **Las Vegas, NV.**

Morgan and Greg looked at each other when Nick said there was something regarding the mysterious killer. They got up and followed Nick to the break room where the whole team was gathered looking at the T.V. even the techs and Ecklie were there.

"What's going on?" Greg asked confused.

"It seems the New York Police is dealing with the same killer we deal a few months back." D.B. said.

"Wait, the killer is in New York?" Morgan asked shocked.

"Looks that way." Conrad said.

The whole lab kept their eyes fixed on the T.V. as the news played on the screen.

" _In other national news, the New York Police department is going to give a press conference regarding a mysterious killer that has left two bodies, one of them being a very famous judge with a distinguished career. Our correspondent in New York will give us more information. Jenny?"_ The male news presenter said.

" _Thank you Tom."_ The female reporter said. _"We are in front of the New York court house where the supervisor of the New York crime lab, detective Mac Taylor is going to answer some questions about the recent deaths of Judge Oliver Thompson and an unknown victim whose identity hasn't been revealed to the public. Here he comes."_ The reporter said and all the cameras were fixed on the man that was introduced as Mac Taylor.

" _Thanks for coming here and I'm going to answer the questions you have about these recent deaths."_ Mac said, the reporters raised their hands and Mac gave the word to one of them.

" _Detective Taylor_ , _do you think this is some kind of personal revenge to the judge?"_ The reporter asked.

" _We are still checking his cases, but so far there's nothing that indicates some kind of revenge."_ The detective answered, another reporter raised his hand and Mac gave him the word. _"Detective Taylor, is the death of the judge and the death of the other victim related?"_ He asked.

" _No comments."_ Mac answered. Another reporter asked a question. _"Detective, do you think the killer is trying to send a message leaving those ace cards on the victims?"_

When the reporter said this, the whole lab stayed silent, Morgan and Greg looked at each other with wide eyes; the killer was back and was in New York. They continued looking the press conference while Conrad had to leave the room as his cellphone rang.

It took a few seconds before Mac could answer, finally. _"We still don't know, my team has checked the backgrounds of the victims, nothing indicates they had gambling problems or owed money to someone."_ He answered. _"Detective Taylor, do you think there's a serial killer in the city?"_ A reporter asked. _"No more questions."_ Mac said and he left the place, as he left more reporters started to ask questions, the camera returned to the correspondent. _"Well, that's all the information about the Ace Killer that the Detective Taylor gave us, we will inform you later as the story develops more, back to you Tom."_ The correspondent said, as the news presenter talked, everyone in the break room exchanged glances; Morgan, Greg and Russell were shocked to find out that the killer was in New York. Nick, Sara and Finn approached to the two younger CSI's as Russell received a text from Conrad asking to meet him in Conrad's office, Russell left the break room and headed to Conrad's office while the CSI's talked with each other.

* * *

Russell knocked on the doorway of Conrad's office and the undersheriff told him to come in. Russell sat opposite from Conrad. "You left the break room rather quickly." Russell said.

"Yeah." Conrad said and sighed. "I received a phone call from Sheriff Liston." He said.

"What did she tell you?" Russell asked.

"She wants to know why we haven't caught the "Ace Killer" as the press calls him now." Conrad said and sighed.

"So, what do you say to her?" Russell asked.

"I told her that we can help the New York crime lab." Conrad said. "Are you still friends with the supervisor of the New York crime lab?" He asked.

"Yes." Russell answered. "Why?"

"I need you to call him." Conrad said.

* * *

 **New York City, NY.**

Mac had returned from the press conference thirty minutes ago, and had received a call from Sinclair saying that the case was top priority. After Mac hanged up his cellphone, he walked into Danny.

"Mac." Danny said.

"Hey." Mac said.

"The files you asked about judge Thompson's cases arrived, they are in the conference room." Danny said.

"Okay, thanks Danny." Mac said, Danny nodded and left. As soon as Danny left, Mac met with Adam. "Mac." Adam said while he ran to catch up with Mac.

"Adam, what's wrong?" Mac asked when he saw the young lab tech running towards his direction.

"You have a video call from the undersheriff of Las Vegas Police Department and the supervisor of the grave shift of Vegas crime lab." Adam said catching his breath.

"I'll take the call in the conference room, thanks Adam." Mac said and headed to the conference room.

"Sure." Adam answered.

Mac entered in the conference room and answered the video call, the screen beep and the image of D.B. Russell appeared. Mac was surprised when he saw an old friend of his.

"Hi, Mac." Russell said happy to see his friend.

"Hi D.B." Mac said smiling. "So, you're now in Vegas, huh?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, this was the big move I told you about." D.B. said but he heard Conrad coughing behind him. "Oh, Mac this is Undersheriff Conrad Ecklie, Conrad this is detective Mac Taylor." He said as he made the introductions.

"What can I help you with?" Mac asked.

"On the contrary detective, we want to help you." Conrad answered.

"With what?" Mac asked confused.

"We want to help you to catch the Ace Killer, actually." Conrad said.

"Six months ago, my team and I discovered a body hanged up near Lake Mead; at first we believe the victim was strangulated but after the medical examiner made the autopsy, we found the victim's throat was cut, also we found high traces of…" Russell said, but Mac cut him off.

"Diazepam." He said. "The two victims we had found have the same characteristics, except for the second one."

"What do you mean?" Russell asked.

"The killer took the victim's eyes out." Mac answered.

Conrad and Russell looked at each other, they knew the killer was getting dangerous, but they never though he would do something like this. "Mac, did you find the ace cards in the right pocket of the victims' clothes?" Russell asked.

Mac nodded, "Yeah, we still haven't found anything that can lead us to the killer, but we know he has a partner." He said. The conference stayed silent for a few moments, then Conrad said. "Detective Taylor, do you have any inconvenient if we send some of our CSI's to help you with the investigation?"

Mac smirked, "Sounds like a good idea to have an extra pair of eyes and hands to help us." He said. "How fast they can be here?"

Conrad and D.B. shared a look. "We'll be there by noon." Russell answered. Mac nodded and they said goodbye, after the conference ended, Conrad turned to Russell. "Who else is going to go with you?" He asked.

"Morgan and Greg, they know more of this case than anyone in the lab." Russell said and waited an answer from Ecklie, after a few minutes, Ecklie told Russell to bring the two CSI's to his office. Twenty minutes later, Greg and Morgan were in Ecklie's office along with Russell.

"What are we doing here?" Morgan asked.

"We just talked with the supervisor of the New York crime lab. He acceded to receive three of us to help him and his team with the case." Russell said.

"So, who are the ones that will go to New York City?" Greg asked.

"You, Morgan and me." Russell said. "Ecklie and I already talked about it, and since we're the ones who knows more about this killer, we're are the one qualified for this job." Russell said.

"When are we leaving?" Morgan asked.

"We leave at first hour tomorrow, first flight." Russell said.

Greg and Morgan nodded in agreement, they prepared to leave when Conrad asked Morgan if he could talk with her, she accepted and stayed in Conrad's office. Meanwhile, Greg headed to the locker room to prepare to go home and to get things ready for the next day; he was closing the door of his locker when Morgan walked in.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

"Uh…everything went fine with your dad?" He asked.

"Yes, it's…just that he is worried about me boarding a plane." She said sitting down on the bench in the locker room.

"Hey, he's just worried." Greg said sitting down next to her. "It's been almost a year since the hijacking of that medical chopper." He said.

"And you have been there all the way." She said smiling softly at him.

Greg smiled in return and got up. "Okay Brody, let's drop you off at your place, then I'll go to mine, so both of us can have a good night rest for tomorrow, we must be early in the airport." He said.

Morgan smiled and followed Greg. "After you, Sanders."

Thirty minutes later, Greg parked his car in front of Morgan's apartment. "Thanks for dropping me off." She said.

"You're welcome." Greg said. "Do…um…do you want me to pick you up tomorrow to go to the airport?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll take a cab. I'll meet you in the airport, okay?"

"Sure." Greg answered feeling a little disappointed. Morgan got out from the car and started to head to her apartment when Greg called her. "Hey, I forgot to tell you that Russell told me that we should pack winter clothes."

"Why?"

"He said it started to snow in New York yesterday, so he wants us to be prevented."

"Okay, thanks for telling me. Good night, Greg." She said and gave him a smile before she went to her apartment.

"Good night, Morgan." He said while he watched her to go into her apartment. Greg left the apartment complex ignoring the fact that the same mysterious person that took photos of him with Morgan six months ago was taking photos of him again.

* * *

The next day, Greg woke up early and finished packing for New York. He took a shower and checked he had everything again, once everything was fine, he called a cab and left for the airport. Fifteen minutes later, Morgan arrived at the McCarran airport and saw Greg sitting on the airport's seats in the waiting room; she smiled and approached to him.

"Hey." She said leaving her suitcase next to his.

"Hey!" He answered smiling. "Looks like you're ready for the winter season." He said.

Morgan smiled and sat next to him. "Well, yes. After you told me that it started to snow in New York, I decided to dress up for the climate there." She said; she was wearing a red, long-sleeved blouse with black trousers and black boots. "And looks like you also decided to dress up for the weather."

Greg was wearing a blue navy sweater with grey diamonds; under the sweater he was wearing a white shirt with black pants and black shoes. They chatted for a while until they saw Russell coming to their direction to greet them, after saying hello; Russell gave them their tickets for the flight, after passing through security check, they only needed to wait for the flight. Forty - five minutes later there was an announcement: _"Passengers of flight 135 bound for New York, please address gate E-8."_

"Okay, that's our flight, c'mon." Russell said. The three CSI's boarded the plane and Greg and Morgan discovered they would sit together while Russell would be a few rows ahead of them; as they were checking their seats Greg asked Morgan if she was okay sitting by the window - considering that during the chopper hijacking she sat by the window when the hijacking started – and she smiled at his worry.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She said sitting down.

"Okay, but if you're afraid, I'm right next to you." He said also sitting down.

A few minutes later, the plane was ready to take off. Once the plane was in the air, the captain announced it would take four hours to arrive at New York, while the plane was flying to New York, Greg decided to read a book, Russell was checking some files and Morgan was thinking about an old conversation she had with Greg two weeks after her hijacking.

* * *

 _Morgan was in her apartment catching up with some e-mails. It had passed two weeks since her ordeal and she was waiting for Russell's approval to come back to work. She was reading an e-mail from one of her friends when she received a text._

 _"How are you doing?" Greg's voice rang in her head when she saw his message._

 _"Oh, you know. Trying to have a normal day." She answered._

 _A few minutes passed and she received another text. "Good to hear that, Hollywood."_

 _She smiled at the nickname he gave her since she arrived at Vegas. "I gotta get back to work; can I talk to you later?" Greg texted back._

 _"Sure." She texted back with a smile on her face._

* * *

Morgan smiled, but then, the plane shook a little after going through a little turbulence. Unconsciously, she grabbed Greg's hand and he turned to her when he felt her hand squeezing his. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.

She looked into his brown eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine." She answered, but the plane shook again and she squeezed his hand again. "Sorry." She said when she stopped squeezing his hand.

"Don't be." He said. "Sometimes it takes a while to confront our fears after some traumatizing event." He said and squeezed her hand in return.

She smiled softly at his gesture. "So, what are you reading?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, just a classic." He said showing her the book. "Look, we still have two hours left before we land. Do you want to talk?" He asked.

She nodded and left her hand in his. During the two hours left, Greg and Morgan filled each other with the little knowledge they had about New York City, eventually they started to talk about different kind of things and by the time the plane was waiting for the landing instructions, they were laughing softly at a funny memory Greg had told her about his younger years. "Hey, looks like we have arrived." He said looking through Morgan's window. She looked through the window and saw part of the city covered in a white blanket.

"Russell was right, the good news we brought our winter clothes." She said.

"I just wanna do something while we are here." Greg said.

"What?" Morgan asked curious.

" _I want to wake up in a city that doesn't sleeps…_ " Greg sang a line from Frank Sinatra's song _New York, New York._

Morgan laughed softly and looked again through the window, admiring the big city as the plane headed for the airport. A few minutes later, there was an announcement on the speakers. " _Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we are about to land in JFK International Airport, so please remain seated and seat your seatbelts on, and in a few moments we will begin to descend, thanks for your attention."_ The captain said.

Once the plane had landed, the three CSI's descended from it and went for their suitcases, after that they got into a cab and Russell gave the driver the direction of the hotel where they were staying, as the taxi drove through the highway, the three CSI's admired the city. After the taxi dropped them in the hotel, they check in and the bellboy took them to their rooms, Greg was amazed with the view his room had, it had a great sight of Central Park, he stared at the park for a few minutes when there was a knock in his door. He opened it and saw Morgan standing there.

"Hey." She said smiling.

"Hi." Greg said. "You want to come in?" He asked.

"Sure." She said. She walked into the room and gasped softly at the sight. "Wow, you definitely have the best sight of all of us." She said looking at the park.

"Uh…I wouldn't say that, I think Russell's room also has view to Central Park." He answered with a shrug.

"And I have an amazing view to the building in front of the hotel." She said sarcastically. Greg laughed, few seconds later, there was another knock on the door, and Greg opened the door and found Russell standing there. "You guys are ready?" He asked. The two CSI's nodded and grabbed their things and left the hotel.

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, they are finally in New York, next chapter Russell and company will meet Mac and his team. Until then, hope you enjoyed the chapter.**_


	7. Chapter 7: United

_**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay, but I have been busy wih school and this chapter took me a while to write. I'm glad everyone is loving the story, and those who made suggestions for the story, I'll take them in consideration for the next chapers and soon you'll find out who has been taking photos of Greg. Thanks again for the reviews!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: United**

The three CSI's left the hotel and took a cab to the New York Crime Lab, when they arrived at the building where the crime lab was, a security officer asked them to fill a registration form, after that they were escorted to the floor of the crime lab. The doors of the elevator opened and revealed a big, illuminated and modern crime lab. The placed had glass like walls and looked like the crime lab owned at least two whole floors of the building. The CSI's came out from the elevator and the security officer escorted them to the closest office, inside the office, Mac was talking to Sinclair through the phone.

"Yeah, I know it is top priority now, chief." He said.

"The CSI's from Las Vegas crime lab will be working with us to solve this case." Mac said; he saw the officer who pointed at the CSI's from Las Vegas, Mac motioned and nodded, so the CSI's entered in his office.

Russell walked into Mac's office, followed by Morgan and Greg. The older CSI's was happy to his old friend, but the two younger CSI's were amazed with the crime lab. Mac's office had a few photos of the army of the USA in the Middle East, behind Mac's desk there was two flags; one of the USA and the other was a green - white striped flag, and on his other desk, he had a photo of the former president of the United States, Ronald Reagan and also had a commemorative plate.

"Yeah, they just have arrived." Mac said through the phone. "Okay, I'll keep you posted Chief." Mac said and hung up the phone, he smiled when he saw his friends. "Hi, D.B." He said giving Russell a hug.

"Hi, Mac." Russell said returning the hug. "The lab still looks great." Russell said after Mac and he broke the hug.

"Well, it hasn't changed since you came to visit a few years ago." Mac said.

Russell chuckled and took a step back. "Mac, let me introduce you two of the CSI's I work with and the ones who I had been working with in the Ace Killer case." He said. "This is CSI Greg Sanders and our DNA expert."

Mac shook hands with the young CSI, "Nice to meet you." He said.

"Likewise." Greg answered.

"And she is CSI Morgan Brody." Russell said and Morgan and Mac shook hands.

"Hi." Mac said.

"Nice to meet you, detective." Morgan answered.

"Let me take you to the conference room, my team is there. We're still checking the evidence from the first victims." Mac said and led the CSI's to the conference room. When they entered, they saw the rest of Mac's team looking at the photos of the evidence.

"Okay everyone." Mac said. "These are the CSI's from Las Vegas Crime Lab and they're going to help us to catch the Ace Killer before he dumps more victims." He said. "This is detective Jo Danville."

"Hi." Jo said shaking hands with the CSI's.

"These are Doctor Sheldon Hawkes and detectives Danny and Lindsay Messer." Mac said, after all the introductions were done and the exchanging of hellos and shaking hands were over, Mac explained Russell all about the two cases they have been investigating as well as the order of Chief Sinclair to solve as quickly as possible the case.

"It's the same M.O." Russell said looking the photos. "What can you tell me about the victims?" He asked.

"Our first victim was a man named Gabriel Romero, he was the son of one of the most distinguished police officers in the NYPD." Mac answered.

"Where do you found him?" Greg asked.

"He was found in Washington Square Park, hanging from a tree. At first we believed he was strangled but after our Medical Examiner made the autopsy, he confirmed the official C.O.D. was exsanguination." Mac answered.

"Consisting with a throat cut." Russell said.

"Yes, but we discovered a boot print near the base of the tree." Sheldon said and gave Russell a photo of the boot print. "Also we found part of a tooth in the victim's hand."

"He had a fight?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, but the wound suggested it was inflicted two days before the victim was killed, the DNA matches an unknown male." Mac answered.

"What about the second victim?" Greg asked looking the photos.

"Same M.O. but no evidence left in the scene." Danny answered. "We also found a hair in the duct tape, but the DNA didn't have a match in CODIS." He answered.

"Did you find something on the ace cards?" Morgan asked.

"No, our best theory is that the killer use gloves to put the ace cards in the victim's pocket." Jo said.

"Mac, you said that the second victim had his eyes removed, do you think it's some kind of payback?" Russell asked.

Mac sighed and shook his head. "We still don't know, some of the cases of Judge Thompson are sealed, we already ask for an order to unseal the cases but it can take a time to have those cases." He said, then his phone rang and he excused himself.

"Well, at least you have done more progress than we did in six months." Greg said.

"How much progress did you do?" Jo asked.

"Not much." Greg answered as he showed the New York team the photos of the first murders. "We could only find the syringes and the duck tapes that were used in the murders." He explained.

"But we didn't find any fingertips, DNA or fibers that indicate the killer is a rookie." Morgan said.

"Mac mentioned that part of the evidence indicates the killer has a partner." Russell said.

"Yes, we found some fibers at the two crime scenes, but we still haven't identified the material. This suggests the accomplice is not careful." Sheldon answered.

Before anyone could speak again, Mac entered in the conference room. He looked annoyed and shocked. "Grab your kits." He said and walked to the door.

"Mac, what's wrong?" Jo asked, confused to see her boss like that.

Mac turned around and said "We have two more victims." The whole room fell silent, shocked faces were displayed among the two teams.

"Where?" Jo asked.

"Flack said they received two calls a couple of minutes ago; one body was found in Morningside Park and the other was found in an apartment." Mac said. "This is what are we going to do. Danny, Lindsay you are going to process the scene at Morningside Park." He said as the couple nodded. "Take the CSI's Sanders and Brody; they will help you with the scene. Russell, you, me, Jo and Sheldon are going to process the victim in the apartment, is everything clear?" He asked. The CSI's were in agreement with Mac's plan. The whole team headed to the elevators and then, down to the parking lot. After a few minutes, two black pick-ups exited from the parking lot and took different directions and headed to the crime scenes.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the first team arrived at the Morningside Park; the four CSI's got out from the car and were greeted by detective Flack.

"Hey Flack." Danny said.

"Hey guys." Flack said.

"What do we have?" Danny asked.

"The victim doesn't have any ID, but everything indicates it's the same killer." Flack said. "Those people over there found the body." He said pointing at a group of persons talking with the officers. "Goodbye to your weekend with nature." He said with sarcasm.

Danny laughed, behind him; the other three CSI's approached to them. Morgan and Greg gasped softly at the sight of the body hanged up, but this time, it was worse. Mac was right; the killer was becoming more dangerous. The CSI's could see a big bloodstain on the victim's clothes, like someone had stabbed him.

"This guy is very dangerous." Greg said.

"Yeah." Morgan agreed.

"Are you the ones from Vegas?" Flack asked.

Greg and Morgan nodded. "Don Flack." He said shaking hands with the CSI's.

"Greg Sanders." Greg answered.

"Morgan Brody." Morgan answered.

"Okay, let's start to process the scene." Danny said. He and Lindsay looked over the crime scene trying to find some evidence while Morgan and Greg stayed behind since they were out of their jurisdiction.

Danny examined the tree after he and a couple of assistants of the coroner's office had lowered the body, he found something stuck in the tree bark. "Bum. I found some fibers righ' here." He said and took the tweezers, so he grab the fibers and he put them in an envelope for evidences and continued taking photos of the scene. Meanwhile, Lindsay saw something near the base of the tree. "I have a blood trail." She said, Danny walked to her and look at the small drop of blood on the soil. "Looks they're goin' in that direction." Danny said. "Let's check it out."

* * *

Meanwhile, Mac, Jo, Russell and Sheldon were at the second crime scene. The victim was just like the one from the Morningside park, he was hanged up, with his face covered and had multiple stabs in his body. "Time of death?" Mac asked.

Sheldon inserted the thermometer and checked the liver's temperature. "The victim died twelve hours ago." He said.

Jo saw a wallet on the drawer near the bed and took it. "The victim was Blake Mitchell, age 45. He worked as a counter…" Jo trailed off looking at the victim's wallet.

"Jo, what's wrong?" Sheldon asked.

"He worked with our first victim." She answered.

"What?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, it looks the two worked in the same company, but in different departments." She explained.

Sheldon continued searching for some evidence; he looked near the bed of the victim and found a syringe, he took photo of it and picked it up. "Hey, guys." He said and the three older CSI's turned to him. "I found this." He said showing the syringe to the CSI's. "I bet it has traces of Diazepam."

"Okay, keep the syringe in an evidence bag, once we return to the lab, I want you to process it, see if we can find any traces of DNA or Diazepam." Mac said and Sheldon nodded in response.

They continued taking photos and collecting everything in the apartment as evidence to process it. Once they finished, the CSI's returned to the crime lab.

* * *

After walking for some minutes and meters and taking photos of the blood drops, Danny and Lindsay found a pocket-knife covered in blood. "I think we found our murder weapon." Danny said as Lindsay took a photo of the pocket-knife before she put it in an evidence bag. After a few more minutes processing the crime scene, the four CSI's arrived at the crime lab, only to find that Mac had called the entire lab in one of the main hallways.

"As you know, in less than three weeks we have four victims related to the Ace Killer." Mac said in a serious tone. "For now on and until we solve this case, every case that comes in, takes the second place. This case is priority number one, and Chief Sinclair and the Mayor want this to resolve as quickly as possible." He said and looked at the three CSI's from Vegas. "The CSI's from Las Vegas crime lab will help us to process evidence, but in field the only ones who will able to take photos and collect evidence will be us. Let's get back to work." He said and the lab returned to work. Mac sighed and started to walk to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Russell asked.

"Autopsy." Mac answered.

"I'll go with you." Russell said and the two CSI's headed to Autopsy.

"Hey Sid." Mac said.

"Hey Mac." He said when he saw the detective.

"He's D.B. Russell from Las Vegas Crime Lab." Mac said introducing both men. "D.B., he's Sid Hammerback, our Medical Examiner."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"What do you have, Sid?" Mac asked.

Sid put his glasses on and walked to one of the victim's. "The victim you found in his apartment had his throat cut. But that's not the interesting part." He said, which earned a confused look from both CSI's.

"What do you mean?" Mac asked.

"The official C.O.D. was exsanguination for the cut of the carotid artery, but the stabs I found were made after and before he died." Sid answered.

"So, you're saying they didn't use any kind of sedative with the victim?" Russell asked.

"Um…no, I found traces of Diazepam in the victim's bloodstream, but they are inconsistent with the levels we had found on the other victims." Sid answered. "I think the killer used less concentration of Diazepam with him, but the effect didn't last long, so the victim woke up and as a security method, the killer stabbed the victim at least two times before he was helpless."

"Did the killer stab him in vital organs?" Mac asked.

"No, he knew were to stab, one in the shoulder and the other one in the left arm." Sid answered showing the stabs.

"What you can tell us about the other victim?" Mac asked again.

"Same pattern just like the others, but he died two hours after the one you found in the apartment." Sid answered.

Mac and Russell stayed with Sid a few more minutes while he was telling them what he had found in the victim's body. In one of the labs, Sheldon was processing the victim's clothes while Jo was processing the two ace cards they had found in the two victims. Sheldon found some stains in Mitchell's shirt, so he took a sample and analyzed it. An hour later, Jo walked into the lab where Sheldon was.

"I analyzed the ace cards, but I didn't found anything. You had something Sheldon?" She asked.

"Yes, I found traces of Diazepam in the victim's shirt, indicating he struggled with the killer before he was sedated completely." Sheldon answered.

"Matches with the victim's tox results and with what Sid told Mac and Russell." Jo said looking the results. "The concentration of Diazepam only knocked our victim for a few hours before he woke up and attacked the killer."

"Exactly, that's when he used the pocket-knife to submit our victim." Sheldon said.

"Let's hope Danny finds something on the pocket knife." Jo said.

* * *

Danny was analyzing the pocket-knife. He took a sample of the blood that was on the small knife, after that, he disarmed the pocket-knife and found dry blood at the end of the blade. He took also a sample of the dry blood to analyzed it. Meanwhile, Adam was ckecking the security videos from the park and the apartment building; after watching almost two hours of video, he spotted a white pick-up with the victim in the back. He got up and called Mac.

"Hey babe." Danny said as he walked into the room.

"Hey." Lindsay answered. "You have the results from the pocket-knife we found?" She asked.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I found two different blood types on the pocket-knife. One belongs to the victim that Mac and Jo found in the apartment and the other belongs to Daiman O'Donnell." He said and gave her the file.

"Both Mitchell and O'Donnell were imprisoned for drunk driving a few years ago." Lindsay said.

"Yeah, I already talked with Flack. He said he'll send their records once he has them, so we can check them." Danny said. "You found something on the rope?" He asked.

"No, just like before." Lindsay answered. "No fingertips, DNA or fibers."

"As well as the duct tapes." Morgan said walking into the room, with Greg following her. "We didn't find anything on them."

"Wait." Danny said and turned to Lindsay. "Linds, do you still have the fibers we collected from the first two crime scenes?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, they must be here." She said while she was checking the evidence. "Here is it." She grabbed a small envelope which had the fibers. "I still haven't identified the material these fibers are made of."

Danny crossed his arms. "That's because we haven't asked the only one who knows everything about traces and fibers." He said. Lindsay smiled at her husband's statement, while Morgan and Greg were very confused by this.

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked.

"We are going to see EDNA." Danny answered.

"Who's EDNA?" Greg asked.

Danny and Lindsay only smiled at each other and told the two CSI's to follow them; they walked through the lab until they reached the room where EDNA was. When they entered, the CSI's from Vegas gasped at the amazing sample library and the robot arm that delivered the sample requested.

"So, this is EDNA?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, she can tell us anything 'bout any sample you have." Danny answered.

"How does it work?" Greg asked.

"You'll see." Danny said and looked over to Lindsay, who smiled in return and placed the sample below a scanner, and after a few minutes, she typed something in the computer, the robotic arm started to move and searched for the sample, once it found it, the arm delivered the sample and Danny took it. He placed it next to the original sample and checked them on the microscope.

"We have a match." He said and showed the other three CSI's the results. "Looks like the fibers we collected belong to a composition between cotton and polyester."

"Like some kind of shirt or sweater?" Morgan asked.

"The killer probably cut his clothes accidentally when he took out the pocket-knife and he left fibers on the crime scenes." Lindsay answered.

Just then, Danny phone rang and he took it out. "It's Flack, he says he has something 'bout the records of the victims we should check. Hey Greg, you want to come?" He asked.

Greg was surprised, but he nodded immediately and followed Danny to the praking lot of the lab. Meanwhile, Mac was looking over the results of blood sample they had find on the pocket-knife, he frowned and went to his office to verify the results.


	8. Chapter 8: Sins from the past I

_**A/N: Hi guys, so here's chapter 8 and thanks leggomygreggo2 for suggestion a bromance between Danny and Greg. So, since Danny and Lindsay are my favorite CSI: NY couple and I love Greg and Morgan, I was wondering how the maried couple could give advice to the two CSI's from Vegas on what to do with each other and here is it. Hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Sins from the past I.**

"Are you sure of this?" Jo asked.

"Yes, I checked the results twice, it's his blood." Mac answered.

"So, the pocket-knife Danny and Lindsay found in the park is the same the killer used to cut Gabriel's throat?" Jo asked.

Mac nodded, "Yeah, but the patterns in the other victims are inconsistent with the pocket-knife. Russell and I checked the photos from the victims of Las Vegas and I did the reconstruction of the cuts to see if they matched and they were negative." He said.

"The killer used something different to kill the other victims." Jo said.

"Yeah, and I'm taking the accomplice helped the killer to stab O'Donnell and Mitchell." Mac said. Adam walked into the room, "Hey boss." He said.

"Adam, you have something for me?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, I found a fingertip on the pocket-knife after Danny took the blood samples. I ran the fingertip through AFIS and got a match." Adam said and gave Mac the results.

"The fingertip belongs to Jerome Deveraux. He was arrested four years ago for drunk driving." Mac said. "Any connections to Mitchell or O'Donnell?" He asked.

"Uh…no, but their records show they moved to New York twenty years ago." Adam said. "Besides that, there's nothing else on them."

"Where are they from?" Jo asked.

"They are from Las Vegas." Adam answered.

Jo and Mac looked at each other. "I'm going to talk with D.B. to see if he can ask for the records of Mitchell and O'Donnell they have in Vegas. Thanks Adam." Mac said and left the room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Danny and Greg were going to talk with a person of interest who had a few arguments with Blake Mitchell and they believe he had reason to want him dead. While they were driving through the streets of New York, Greg noticed people walking through the streets, they didn't care it had snowed yesterday and continued with their life.

"I have never so many people walking and this kind of traffic." He said.

Danny chuckled softly. "I imagine Las Vegas doesn't have this kind of traffic everyday, huh?" He asked.

Greg smirked and shook his head. "No, also impress me how they don't care about the cold temperature when they go out to the street." He said.

"You get used to, trust me." Danny answered.

"I believe you, my family comes from Norway and I was there a few times when I was younger, so I know how to deal with a snowy day." Greg said.

Danny chuckled and continued driving through the city, a few minutes later Greg spoke. "Hey, can I ask you something?" He asked.

"Sure thing." Danny answered.

"How long have you been married with Lindsay?" Greg asked.

"Almost four years, and let me tell you is the best decision I have done." Danny answered.

"And how it worked for you when you started dating?" Greg asked curious.

"She and I managed to hide it pretty well while we're at work. But there was a time when I screw everything up with her and I didn't notice it 'til she told me she was trying to forget about me, that's when I realized I made a huge mistake." Danny said. "I'm giving you this advice Greg, once you found the woman right for you, never let her go." He finished.

"Trust me; I'm not planning on do it." Greg answered with his thoughts on Morgan.

"You and the CSI Brody?" Danny asked smirking.

Greg looked alarmed. "What? ...no…no…how…how do you know?" He asked in defeat.

Danny chuckled. "In the few hours you have been here, I saw how you look at her. It's the same way I look Lindsay everyday, I have seen her like that since I met her." He answered.

Greg sighed, "I don't know, Danny." He said sadly.

"Since when do you know her?" Danny asked.

"Since she started to work in the lab, almost a year ago. But that' s not the problem." Greg said.

"Then what is it?" Danny asked confused. "I mean, besides the rules of dating co-workers." He said and turned left.

"She's the daughter of the Undersheriff of Las Vegas police department." Greg said.

"Wow." Danny answered. "Well, let me tell you something, sometimes is worth it to take risks than have regrets the rest of your life." He said.

"Thanks Danny." Greg said once Danny parked the car.

"You're welcome." Danny answered, they went out from the car and headed to the building in front of them.

* * *

"So, that's everything we have on Blake Mitchell and Daiman O'Donnell?" Russell asked through the phone.

" _Yeah, I already talked with Ecklie; he said he's going to check if they have more on Mitchell and O'Donnell."_ Nick answered.

"That's good." Russell answered.

" _So, how's everything there?"_ Nick asked.

"We're fine, we have made progress, we just found out the killer might have an accomplice and we just found our first suspect." Russell answered. "And how are things over there?"

" _Everything's fine, though Finn is takin' her role as substitute supervisor seriously."_ Nick answered in a comic way.

Russell chuckled. "Don't let her scare you." He answered.

" _She won't. Trust me."_ Nick said.

"Okay, I gotta go, but keep me posted as soon as Ecklie gives you news." Russell said.

" _I will, and say hi to Greg and Morgan for me."_ Nick said.

"I will, thanks Nick."

" _Sure."_

"Bye." Russell said and hung up his cell phone. He walked into Mac office where he was checking a folder. "So, I spoke with one of my CSI's and he gave a few things over O'Donnell and Mitchell." He said.

"What did he tell you?" Mac asked.

"He only gave me the birth dates and the school records from our victims." Russell said. "Did Adam find the pick-up he saw in the security tape?" He asked crossing his arms.

Mac sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, the pick-up doesn't have plates and the driver's and passenger's faces are not visible. We only know the body in the trunk of the pick-up was Damian O'Donnell." Mac answered.

"Okay, so the killer and his partner kill Mitchell in his apartment, two hours later, they found where O'Donnell lives and they sedated him. " Russell said taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Which doesn't have much effect; O'Donnell wakes up and attacks them. So the partner stabs him in the shoulder and left arm and after that, the killer cuts his throat and they stab him one more time before dumping him in Morningside Park." Mac said, and then his phone rang.

"Taylor." He said.

"Okay, thanks." He said a few minutes later and hung up the phone.

"Who was it?" Russell asked.

"It was Flack, he found Deveraux and his men are bringing him to the station." Mac said and took his coat; Russell took his jacket and followed Mac to the station.

* * *

"Okay, Jo and Sheldon returned from processing O'Donnell's apartment and didn't find anything that indicates he was killed in his place." Lindsay said as she put the evidence bags on the table.

"So, it's up to us to find whatever traces the killer left behind." Morgan said.

"Jo said that, when she and Sheldon arrived at the scene, it looked like there had been a fight, there are chances that the suspects left traces behind during the fight." Lindsay answered.

"Let's start with it." Morgan said and she and Lindsay started to take out the evidence from the bags and started to analyze it. Lindsay occupied herself with O'Donnell's clothes while Morgan examined the few photos that were broken during the fight.

After a couple of minutes examining the evidence, Lindsay found traces of a liquid scattered all over O'Donnell's t-shirt, she took a sample and ran a test through the GCMS. While Lindsay was waiting for the results on the test, Morgan was looking for blood or fingertips on the photo frames, the first three photos that were not relevant – the three photos showed O'Donnell with his parents and sibling – but when Morgan checked the fourth photo she was surprised with what she saw.

"Lindsay." She said.

"Yeah?" The detective answered.

"Look at this." Morgan said and showed her the photo. It was a photo of Daiman and Blake Mitchell; both were wearing a cap and a gown and it looked like they were in a graduation ceremony.

"O'Donnell and Mitchell knew each other from years." Lindsay said.

"Yeah, and for the look of this photo, they were best friends." Morgan said, just then the results came in. "You got something?" She asked.

"Yes, the traces I found on O'Donnell's shirt are Diazepam." Lindsay said and both women stayed quiet a few minutes, until Lindsay spoke up. "Sid told Mac that he found low levels of Diazepam in Mitchell's bloodstream and that he found the same low concentration in O'Donnell's blood." She said.

"Maybe the killer wanted them to suffer more than any other victim." Morgan said.

"That could explain why the killer used less concentration of Diazepam when he sedated the victims, they waited for them to wake up and when they did it; they tried to defend themselves." Lindsay said.

"And that ended up with killing them." Morgan finished.

"Maybe Danny and Greg have more luck when they talk to the suspect." Lindsay said.

"Let's hope so." Morgan said. "Hey, can I ask you something?" She asked a few moments later.

"Yes." Lindsay answered.

"How did you and Danny manage to keep your relationship with all the rules about dating co-workers before you got married?" Morgan asked.

Lindsay smiled softly, "We used to be professional while we're at work and after the end of our shifts well…" She trailed off.

"You didn't have problems with the detective Taylor?" Morgan asked surprised.

"He never minded though, by the time Danny and I were dating, Mac had dated a former Medical Examiner that worked here for a year." Lindsay answered.

"Really?" Morgan asked surprised, Lindsay nodded in return.

"You know, you and Greg look cute together." Lindsay said smiling softly.

Morgan felt a blush creeping through her face, "Well…thank you." She said with a nervous smile. "He and I, we get along well."

"That's good." Lindsay answered. "Have you gone out together?" She asked.

"Yes, we have a little routine in Vegas." Morgan answered smiling. "We have breakfast or lunch together once in a while and sometimes after the end of the shift, we go for a beer." She said.

"How long have you known each other?" Lindsay asked.

"Almost a year, since I started to work in Las Vegas crime lab." Morgan answered.

"Really?" Lindsay asked.

"Mmhmm." Morgan said. "There's something I'll never forget that my dad told me about Greg a couple of months back." She said.

"What?" Lindsay asked curious.

"We had this case in the middle of the desert, nothing new 'til we found the victim was still alive, so Russell called a medical chopper to take him to the hospital." Morgan said. "Greg was supposed to go with him, but I offered to go instead of him. Anyway, the paramedic, the pilot and I were taken hostages and after a crash in an abandoned town and a shooting between the police and the real criminals, my dad told me that Greg almost wanted to kill the woman who was responsible for the crime." She said.

"He was really worried for you." Lindsay said with a kind smile.

"My dad said he never had seen Greg like that." Morgan said. "He is funny, sweet, smart, and handsome and one of the strongest people I've known." She said smiling softly.

"You really like him, don't you?" The detective asked.

"Yeah."

"I think you should give him a chance, maybe something good can come from that chance."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Thanks." Morgan said, Lindsay nodded and the two women continued checking the evidence.

* * *

Mac, Russell and Flack were at the station waiting for Jerome Deveraux, the three men were talking about the recent discoveries and progress on the case.

" So, this guy is the one who killed Gabriel and our recent victims?" Flack asked.

"That's what the evidence is telling us." Mac answered.

"Let's see if Deveraux can gives us ananswer." Flack said when he saw Deveraux walking through the station and two police officers led him to one of the interrogation rooms.

"Okay, let's see what does he knows." Flack said and the three men headed to the interrogation rooms.

"Thanks for coming Mr. Deveraux." Mac said sitting in front of the suspect. "I'm detective Mac Taylor and this is CSI D.B. Russell from Las Vegas." Mac said making the introductions.

"So, what can I help you with?" Deveraux asked.

"Mr. Deveraux, did you know Gabriel Romero?" Mac asked.

"Nope." Jerome answered shaking his head. "Why?" He asked.

"We found him dead a few days back." Mac answered.

"You think I had something to do?" Jerome asked confused.

"Maybe, maybe not." Mac answered, then he took a photo and showed it to Jerome. "Mr. Deveraux, do you recognize this?" He asked.

"It's my pocket–knife. I lost it a year ago, where do you found it?" Jerome asked.

"We found it in the Morningside Park. Mr. Deveraux, the pocket-knife had blood of three different people on and we found your fingertip on it." Mac said serious.

"But I told you I lost it a year ago." Jerome answered.

"Where?" Mac asked.

"In a party one of my friends did, I took it out when I was looking for something in my pocket, after that I didn't see it anymore." Jerome explained.

"So, you also don't know who Blake Mitchell and Daiman O'Donnell are?" Russell asked.

"Should I?" Jerome asked.

"Well, the other two blood samples we took from the pocket-knife belong to them." Mac answered.

"These guys are also dead?" Jerome asked.

Mac nodded and leaned back into his chair. "Have you ever been in Las Vegas, Mr. Deveraux?" Russell asked.

"Yeah, I always go there because of my job." Jerome answered.

"How about six months ago?" Russell asked.

"Yeah, I remember go there. Why?" Jerome asked confused.

"Did you know these people?" Russell asked Jerome showing him the photos of the victims he and the CSI's from Las Vegas took six months ago.

Jerome studied the photos and after a while he answered, "No, I've never seen them. Wait, are they also dead?" He asked.

Russell nodded. "Yeah, this happened six months ago." He said.

"Well, like I told you earlier, I didn't have anything to do with it." Jerome said and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Mr. Deveraux, do mind if we took samples of your DNA to remove you as a suspect?" Mac asked.

"Take all the samples you want, I don't have anything to do with those murders." Jerome said.

"Well, since you are very cooperative, can we check your apartment?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, sure. Do what you need to do." Jerome answered.

Mac and Russell left the interrogation room and headed back to the lab where they took Sheldon and Lindsay to help them to process the apartment. The four CSI's arrived at the apartment and went inside, they split out and started to look for something that were or not related to the murders or to the Ace Killer. As the other CSI's checked the rest of the apartment, Mac went to the studio, his eyes wided when he saw something on the wall.

"D.B." Mac called him. "You'll want to see this."

Russell followed Mac to the bedroom with a confused look, but he look índice the bedroom, he gasped softly. "What the...?"

"The case just got more complicated." The older CSI from Las Vegas said as he stared at the wall.

* * *

 _ **A/N: What did they find? You'll find out next chapter, until then, see ya around :)**_


	9. Chapter 9: Sins from the past, II

_**A/N: Hey guys here's chapter 9 and it's one of the longest chapters I've written, that's why it took me a little longer than the others. Anyway, here you have a sweet moment between Greg and Morgan.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Sins from the past, II**

Russell was shocked as he kept staring at the wall. His eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing, on the wall were photos of the whole team of Las Vegas crime lab, but what called Russell's attention was that, in all the photos, Greg was present.

"That's Sanders, right?" Mac asked, also looking at the photos.

Russell nodded, "Yeah." He said.

"Looks like these photos were taken when he was younger." Mac said pointing at the photos.

"Yeah." Russell said.

"Who are these persons?" Mac asked.

"Those are the other members of my team." Russell answered. "She's Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes and Julie Finlay." He said pointing at a brunette woman, a Texan man and a blonde woman, all of there were in different cases with Greg.

"So, this is you." Mac said pointing at a photo where Russell and Greg were processing a crime scene.

"Yeah, and this is the former assistant supervisor, Catherine Willows." Russell said pointing at an older woman with red hair.

"Okay, let's process the photos." Mac said to his team, then he turned to Russell. "D.B., are you okay?" He asked.

"No." Russell answered and sighed.

Mac took his cellphone and called Danny, after a few rings, Danny answered.

" _Messer."_ Danny's voice said through the phone.

"Danny, is Greg still with you?" He asked.

" _Yeah, we just talked to the person who knew Mitchell, why? Is something wrong?"_ The younger detective asked.

"Just go back to the lab and wait us there." Mac said.

" _You got it Mac."_ Danny said and hung up.

* * *

After taking the evidence they need it, Mac, Russell and the other CSI's arrived at the lab, there, he asked the rest of the team to meet him in the conference room along with Greg and Morgan. Mac asked Russell if he could call a videoconference with his team and Russell agreed to do it.

When all the team gathered in the conference room, Mac closed the doors. "Mac, the CSI's from Vegas are ready for the videoconference." Adam said.

"Good." Mac said. "Connect us with them, Adam." He said and Adam nodded in return.

The T.V. screen turned on and the CSI team from Las Vegas showed up. "Hey Russell." Nick said.

"Hi guys." Russell answered.

"So, is everything okay?" Sara asked.

"Uh…no." Russell said as Mac took a step beside him. "Guys, this is detective Mac Taylor." He said and Mac nodded in return.

"There's something we can help you with, detective?" Nick asked confused, he didn't know why the supervisor of the New York crime lab was calling them.

"On the contrary, Mr. Stokes, it's the other way around." Mac said.

"Uh…okay." Nick said confused. "So, what's up?"

"We found this while checking a suspect's place an hour ago." Mac said and with the help of Adam, they showed the CSI's from Vegas the photos with them in. The CSI's from Vegas and the rest of New York crime lab gasped softly while Greg and Morgan looked with surprise the photos.

"Someone has been stalking us?" Sara asked confused.

"Is this related to the Ace Killer?" Nick asked.

"We still don't know, but if it is true, CSI Sanders could be the next target." Mac said. Greg and Morgan were surprised and Greg left the conference room in a hurry, Morgan stood up to follow him, but Danny was already behind him.

The two teams continued discussing about the photos and if it was related to the Ace Killer, after a while, Mac ordered his team to continue with the investigation and left Russell alone with his team.

"Do you think we are in danger?" Sara asked.

"I don't know, but it looks like Greg is the main target." D.B. said and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why don't you send him back to Vegas?" Nick asked worried for his best friend who was like his younger brother.

"No, no, I don't think that is a good idea. If the Ace Killer is watching Greg and if he knows where he lives…" He drifted off. "Staying in New York is the best option for Greg; do you anything on Mitchell or O'Donnell?"

"Yeah, Ecklie gave me everything they had; I'll send it to you." Nick said.

"Okay, thanks Nick."

"Sure thing, keep us posted whatever happens."

"I will." Russell said and hung up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Greg had left the New York crime lab and took a cab to the Memorial Park – Greg always had wanted to go there after that day and now that he was here, at least for a few days, he felt it was a good time to visit it – he walk through the Memorial park until he arrived at the foundations of the WTC and stared at the landscape for a while.

"It's a good place to meditate, don't you think?" A voice said behind him.

"Hey Danny." Greg said. "Sorry for leaving like that." He said.

"Don't worry, I understand how you feel. A few years back, I had a similar situation." Danny answered. "Look, we have a suspect in custody; his name is Jerome Deveraux…" Danny said which cause Greg to look at him surprised. "What?"

"I know Jerome Deveraux, we grew up together, went to the school together." Greg said shocked.

"Really?" Danny asked surprised. "Wow."

"Do you think I could speak with him?" Greg asked.

"I don't know, you should talk with Mac 'bout this." Danny said. "C'mon, let's go to the station to see if Mac agrees you to speak with the suspect." He said and the two CSI's headed back to the station. Once they arrived, Greg explained the situation to Mac, who looked at him apprehensively, but after a minute Mac agreed to let Greg to talk to the suspect, he only told Greg he needed to return to his hotel room after he finished talking with Deveraux.

Greg opened the door and walked into the interrogation room, he sat in front of Deveraux and he looked surprised. "Greg? Is it you?" Jerome asked surprised.

"Yeah, it feels like ages ago when I last saw you." Greg said.

"Yeah." Jerome said. "Hey man, I don't have anything to do with those murders." He said.

"Are you sure?" Greg asked. "Because it looks like you've been stalking me." He said.

"What?" Jerome asked surprised. "No, I haven't seen you since the high school graduation."

"Then what about these photos?" Greg asked showing him the photos where he and the CSI team appeared.

"I have never seen those photos before man. I'm telling you the truth, I don't know about those murders and I don't know anything of these photos." Jerome said desperately.

"Jerry, I'm a CSI and my job is to seek for answers." Greg said.

Jerome leaned forward. "Then you know me, I would never do something like that." He said.

"I know, but..." Greg said and sighed. "We have change a lot since high school, Jerry." He said sadly.

"Yeah, we all changed lot since that night" Jerome said.

Greg looked shocked, "You know that Mark, you and I promised never to talk about that night again."

"Yeah, I know, just..." Jerome said and then sighed. "Tell your companions they can take all the samples they need to prove I'm innocent." He said.

Greg got up and walked to the door, he opened the door and left the interrogation room. He wanted to stay positive about his friend, they had knew each other since childhood, and even though they haven't seen each other over a decade, Greg knew Jerome wasn't that kind of person; but since that night, he and his friends had a different point of view about the world.

When Greg exited the interrogation room, he saw Russell and Mac standing there; he took a deep breath and approached the two older CSI's. "Are you okay, Greg?" His boss asked.

"Yeah, just…it's a lot to take in." Greg answered and sighed tiredly.

"Danny is waiting to take you back to your hotel. Stay there until I say so, okay?" Mac asked.

Greg nodded and walked over to where Danny was waiting for him, they both walked towards the exit, Mac and Russell saw the detective and the CSI leave as Danny gave Greg a supporting pat in the back, after they left, Mac turned to Russell.

"Do you have any idea what they were talking about?" Mac asked confused.

"No." Russell shook his head. "I have known Greg for a year, but there are parts of his past he wouldn't talk about." He said.

Mac nodded in an understanding way. "Did your team send you the records of Mitchell and O'Donnell?" He asked.

"Yeah, once we return to the lab, we can check if our two victims had a connection with Mr. Deveraux." Russell said looking at the interrogation room.

"If we found the connection between them, maybe we can found who has been stalking Greg." Mac said gesturing at the interrogation room with a serious tone.

Russell only nodded. After talking with Flack, they left free Jerome since they didn't had any other evidence against him, but Mac ordered Flack to keep an eye on him in case he really resulted to be involved with the murders. Thirty minutes later, Mac and D.B. returned to the lab, and while Mac as ckecking the evidence again, D.B. looked for Morgan, who was in one of the rooms analyzing some evidence with Jo. Russell knock on the glass wall and motioned to Morgan to go with him.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Have you found anything?" He asked.

Morgan shook her head. "No, Jo and I haven't found anything on the photos." She said. "How's Greg?"

"He's fine, Mac sent him back to the hotel, and he's going to stay there 'till we solve this." Russell said. "Keep analyzing the photos and let me know what you find."

"I will." Morgan said and returned with Jo. "Did you find something?" She asked.

"Yes, I found a fingertip in the back of the photo; I'm running it through AFIS right now. How's your friend?" Jo asked.

"He's fine, thanks." Morgan answered with a smile.

"Okay, so these photos are the oldest, they were taken in 2005." Jo said.

"That's when Greg started to work in the field." Morgan said.

"Okay, then we have these." Jo said pointing at another set of photos. "Each photo was taken with a period of three months." She said. "Maybe they were checking his progress?"

"Maybe, but after the 2009, they started to took the photos every six months." Morgan said looking the photos.

"Which bring us here..." Jo said and took the set of photos that were from the current year. "This is your team, right?" She asked.

The younger CSI nodded. "Yeah, we are all here." She said.

"Sheldon found an USB when they were registering the apartment; he's checking it right now." Jo said. "Let's hope he found something with all this mess."

The day passed and before the CSI from Vegas could tell, it was late night, although she was used to work during the night, Morgan had received an order from Russell to go back to the hotel and rest, also he wanted to know how was Greg, so Morgan agreed and went back to the hotel and Russell promised her to keep her posted.

* * *

After Morgan returned to the hotel, she decided to visit Greg. She changed into more comfortable clothes – sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt – while she was her boots on, she felt a cold breeze and searched in her suitcase for a sweater or a sweatshirt, but she couldn't find either of them. _Great._ She thought. She left her room and walked down the hallway. When she was in front of Greg's room, she knocked on the door…

"Hey, Morgan." Greg said opening the door.

"Really? A jersey of the Giants?" She asked. Greg was also in comfortable clothes, he was using blue sweatpants, the jersey of the New York Giants and a gray sweatshirt.

"Don't tell Nick, he's going to kill me." Greg said with a nervous smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell him, but maybe I can use this as blackmailing for another time." Morgan said with a teasing smile.

"Haha, you're very funny, Brody." Greg said. "You want to come inside?" He asked.

"Sure, Sanders." Morgan said and walked into the room.

"So, uh...Russell sent you back here?" Greg asked sitting at the small table the room had.

"Yeah, he's going to stay in the lab a little bit more, so he suggested I should rest a little before going back." Morgan said.

"Well, it's good to hear that; I was about to call room sevice." Greg said laughing.

"Your treat?" Morgan asked smiling.

"Sure." He answered.

After ordering a club sandwich for the both of them, Greg asked "Do you mind if I order sodas? I'm not in mood for a beer."

"Yeah, I don't mind." She answered.

After finishing their dinner, Morgan and Greg talked about what he had done since he returned to the lab and talked a little about the case. When a moment of silence fell in the room, Morgan took a deep breath as she chose her next words.

"So, Russell told me you know the suspect." She said.

"Yeah, we have known each other since childhood." Greg answered sadly.

"You really think he can do something like that?" Morgan asked.

Greg sighed. "I don't know." He said and a silence fell between them. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I've never told Nick or Sara about this, not even my parents because if I had done that, my mom would have kept me at home 'till I left for college." Greg said and Morgan gave a soft laugh. "It has something to do with my friend." He said.

"What?" She asked.

Greg got up from the chair and searched for something in his wallet; when he found it, he sat on the bed and gave the photo to Morgan, who stood up as well and sat next to him taking the photo. She studied the photo for a while, she saw three kids smiling; the kid in the middle had big brown eyes and sandy hair, Morgan recognized it was Greg, the kid on the right had green eyes and brown hair and the other kid on the left had hazel eyes and black hair. Morgan looked up from the photo, "Who are they?" She asked.

"The boy in the middle it's me and the other two at my sides are my friends, Jerome Deveraux and Mark Anderson, the three of us grew up together back in my hometown, San Gabriel; went to the same school and high school. We were great friends, until something bad happened and Mark distanced from us." He answered. "The three of us promised never to mention it, but you're the first."

Morgan looked at Greg with confusion, but she let him to continue. "When I was thirteen, Mark's father invited us to stay a week in Vegas during the summer vacations and Mark's and Jerome's moms convinced my mom to let me go with them and she accepted, Mark's father lived in Vegas due to his work but every two weeks he went to visit him and his younger brother, Billy." He said smiling. "Anyway, we were really excited for our first trip and we were really happy when we knew Mark's cousin, Sam, would be staying with us. We really had fun the week we were there, but the day before returning to San Gabriel changed everything…"

 _ **Flashback, 23 years ago…**_

" _C'mon kids, dinner's almost ready!" Mark's father called from the kitchen._

" _We're coming, dad!" Mark answered._

 _We were setting the table while Mark's father was preparing dinner, we sat at the table and all of us ate, then there was a knock on the door, so Mark's father got up and answered, it was Sam, Mark's cousin._

" _Sam!" Mark's father said surprised. "What happened?" He asked when he saw Sam with a black eye and a bloody nose._

" _I'm sorry, uncle." Sam said._

" _Mark, you and you friends go to your room." Mark's father said._

" _But dad…" Mark complained._

" _Mark, go to your room! I need to talk with your cousin in private." Mark's father said a little annoyed. Since Sam's mom abandoned him and his father died in an accident, Mark's father decided to raise him along with Mark and his brother, and since Sam was enrolled in one of Las Vegas high school, he lived with him._

 _We stayed in the room for minutes, but it felt like hours, eventually we prepared for bed and fell asleep, around three o'clock Mark heard something breaking, so he decided to wake us._

" _Psst, Greg, Jerry. Wake up." Mark whispered._

" _What is it, Mark?" I asked sleepily._

" _Did you hear that?" Mark asked._

 _Jerry and I listened, but the whole house was in complete silence. "It's just your imagination, Mark." Jerry whispered and laid down, but then we heard something big breaking._

" _What was that?" Jerry asked._

 _I shrugged while Mark got up, "I told you, someone's here." He whispered walking to the door._

" _Mark! Where are you going?" I asked in a hushing tone._

" _I need to know my little brother is safe." Mark said and headed to Billy's room, fortunately he was asleep, so Mark, Jerry and I continued our investigation to the living room; we couldn't believe what we were seeing. The house was upside down, there were a lot of things broken and scatter on the floor and near the sofa, Sam was lying on the floor._

" _Sam!" I remember Mark's cry and he ran to his side._

" _Sam, what happened?" He asked, but Sam was in a bad condition, he was losing a lot of blood and he could barely move. He pointed weakly at the kitchen, so Mark ran to there._

 _I don't really what happened next, Jerry and I froze 'till the voice of a middle-age man brought us to reality. He introduce himself as Mark's godfather and best friend of his father, he take us out from the house and took us to his house, there he explained he would take care of everything._

 _ **End of flashback.**_

"What happened to Mark's father and his cousin?" Morgan asked grabbing Greg's hand.

"Mark's father was badly beaten, so he suffers memory loss and Sam…" Greg's voice started to broke. "He died two days later." He said and his voice broke, he choked back tears as Morgan's hand squeezed his.

"There was nothing you could do." Morgan said.

"For months I asked myself what would have happened if Jerry and I hadn't frozen up." Greg replied.

"Greg, you and Jerry were kids." Morgan answered. "Even now, there are times when we cannot help but froze up when something bad happens."

"I know, I know. But after the funeral and the burial, Mark distanced from us and I felt it was our fault." Greg said hanging his head.

"What happened with Mark's younger brother?" Morgan asked.

"Billy never knew what really happened to his cousin, he was asleep when everything happened, though Sam's death was worse for Billy when he found out, he was only eight." Greg answered. "After that night, Mark, Jerry and I promised never to tell anyone."

"Greg, I'm so sorry." She said. Greg couldn't hold back tears anymore and broke down; Morgan squeezed Greg's hand tighter to let him know she was there. _I'm here Greg, just like you have been there for me this last year._ She thought and without releasing his hand, she rested her head on Greg's shoulder and the two stayed like that for a while.

* * *

Greg shifted in his hotel bed and laid on his back, he stared at the ceiling for tenth time that night, he had only slept one hour since his breakdown, but after a nightmare revived what had happened to him all those years ago he didn't trust himself to fall asleep again. The hotel room was filled with the New York City's lights and true to its nickname; New York's streets had life at three in the morning even with the snowfall that had begun an hour ago, he left out a sigh and turned to rest on his right side. He felt someone moving behind him, it was Morgan; she decided to stay the night with him and had fallen asleep on his shoulder after Greg stopped crying. "Thanks for staying, Hollywood." He whispered and as if she had heard him, she wrapped her arms around his waist holding him closer to her; Greg smiled and fell asleep a few minutes later.

The next morning, Morgan woke up in a slightly warmer bed, she opened her eyes hoping to see Greg still at her side, but she didn't see him in his bed side, she looked around the room for him, then she heard the door of the hotel room open and close and Greg walked in.

"Hey, Morgan." He said with a smile.

"Hey, Greg." She answered smiling. "What time is it?"

"It's 7:30." Greg answered. "Did you sleep well last night?" He asked as he was taking off his jacket.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me sleep here last night." Morgan answered as she sat up in bed.

"You're welcome." Greg said and sighed. "Sorry for how I broke last night."

"Greg, you don't have to be sorry. What happened to you all those years ago it wasn't your fault." She said seriously.

"I know, it's just…I felt like I wasn't strong enough." He said.

"Greg, you are one of the strongest people I know, you've been through a lot and after a lab explosion and a beating, you're still the sweet, kind and smart guy I work with everyday." Morgan said, causing Greg to blush slightly.

"Thanks, you're also one of the strongest people I know, and look at you." He said with a small laugh. "You're still here after a hijacking; no many people can stand that."

Morgan laughed softly, "I think we both are hard nuts to crack."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Greg said, a moment of silence felt between the two but Greg's phone broke the silence. "Sanders." He said answering his phone.

"Oh, hi Russell."

"Yeah, I'm fine. How's the investigation going?" He asked.

"Okay, yeah. I know." He said and turned his head where Morgan was and smiled softly. "Yeah, Morgan is awake; you want to talk with her?" He asked and gave her his phone.

"Hi Russell." Morgan said. Greg stared at the park while Morgan was talking to their boss. "You have progress on the photos?" She asked surprised tossing the bed sheets and getting up.

"Okay, I'll see you in an hour." She said and hung up the phone.

"Everything's okay?" Greg asked grabbing his phone.

"Yeah, it seems that the New York crime lab got a match in the fingertip Jo found on one of the photos." She said walking to the door.

"Before you go back to the crime lab, do you want to have breakfast with me?" He asked.

Morgan smiled, "Sure, see you in a bit." She said and returned to her room.

After ten minutes, she and Greg made their way down to the restaurant of the hotel, while they were having breakfast, Greg told her more about his friends and their happy times together before that night. As they were finishing their breakfast, Morgan's phone rang and she answered it, it was Russell telling her that the New York crime lab had interesting results and a new development on the investigation. She hung up and told Greg about this.

"Okay, but promise me to keep me posted." He said walking her to catch a cab.

"I will." She said.

"Be careful." He said.

She kissed his cheek and gave him a warm smile. "I will." She said and took a cab to the New York crime lab. Greg smiled and return to his hotel room hoping that everything was over.

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, do you like Greg's secret about his past? Well, the CSI teams are getting close to discover who's the killer, but Greg's in trouble. So, what is going to happen? Thanks for reading, following and reviewing the story.**_


	10. Chapter 10: A new suspect

_**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the waiting, but between school, exams and other things, I was very tired. (By the way, I had to go two saturdays to school so, yeah I was pretty tired). But here we are again with chapter 10, just a fact, Jerome is the guy with brown hair and green eyes in Greg's photo.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10:**

Morgan arrived at the crime lab and was greeted by Lindsay when she came out from the lift.

"Hi Morgan." Lindsay said.

"Hey Lindsay." She answered.

"How's Greg?" Lindsay asked.

"He's better thanks." Morgan answered. "Do you find any coincide with the fingertip Jo found behind the photos?" She asked.

"Yes." Lindsay answered and gave Morgan the file. "The fingertip belongs to Owen Knight, he works as bartender." Morgan said reading the file.

"Yeah, that's why his fingertip is on the system, also when he's not serving drinks, he's taking pictures. Look what his second job is." Lindsay said.

"He's a professional photographer." Morgan read.

"Exactly, maybe he is working for someone who asked him to take photos of Greg and your friends." Lindsay said excitedly.

"Do you have the place where he works?" Morgan asked anxious.

"Yes, you want to come?" Lindsay asked.

"Sure." Morgan answered smiling.

* * *

Mac was in the conference room checking the cases of the judge Thompson, they had finally had access to all his cases and were checking everything to see if there some connection between the victims. Then, Russell came in.

"Hey Mac." Russell said.

"Hey D.B." Mac said. "Your team sent the records of Mitchell and O'Donnell?" He asked.

"Yeah, I have them here." Russell said and showed to Mac a small USB. "Let's see what we have." He said connecting the USB to the TV. The USB opened and several files appeared. Mac and Russell started to check these files.

"Okay, this is general info about Mitchell and O'Donnell." Mac said. "They both were born in Las Vegas in 1970, went to the same schools and look at this D.B."

"They were arrested when they had 20 for drug possession, but they only gave them community service…" Russell said drifting off. "Mac, look at this." He said.

Mac approached to Russell with a confused look in his face. "Judge Thompson was the one who convicted them." Russell said.

"So we have our first connection, but that doesn't tell us who wanted them dead." Mac said and sighed.

"Wait, something here looks interesting." Russell said.

"What?" Mac asked confused.

"Mitchell and O'Donnell were arrested with other two guys. Julien Nielsen and Clyde Smithson were also arrested." Russell said.

Mac looked at Russell confused, so he explained to Mac that they were the first two victims of the Ace Killer back in Vegas. Mac then said that they needed to keep looking through all the cases of Thompson to see if all the victims were related or had connections with someone else.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lindsay and Morgan arrived at a bar in 56th street. They needed to know if Owen Knight was a suspect or not.

"Owen Knight?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah, what can I help you with?" He asked.

"I'm detective Lindsay Messer and she's the CSI Morgan Brody from Las Vegas." Lindsay said showing her badge to the bartender.

"Vegas, huh?" He said. "You are far from home, sweetheart." Knight said with a sly smile.

"Mr. Knight we have your fingertips on a photo we collected from Jerome Deveraux's apartment." Lindsay said changing the topic and let him know their real reasons for being there.

"I don't know any Jerome Deveraux." Knight said.

Lindsay gave him a photo of the ones they had found in the apartment. "Do you know this man, Mr. Knight?" She asked.

Knight looked at the photo and gave it back to Lindsay. "Nope, sorry. Should I know who he is?" He asked.

"His name is Greg Sanders and he's also a CSI I work with." Morgan said.

"And what has to do with me?" Knight asked.

"Mr. Knight your fingertip appeared in the back of one of this photos we found in Mr. Deveraux's apartment." Lindsay said.

"Well, it makes sense my fingertips appeared behind a photo. I'm also a photographer, which will explain my fingertip on the back of the photo." Knight said. "But I have never seen these guys you're talking about."

"Have you ever been in Las Vegas?" Morgan asked.

Knight just shook his head. "No." He answered.

"Then, how do you explain all your fingertips on these photos we found?" Morgan asked showing him the photos.

"I'm guessing they are also your friends." Knight said. "Look, I have a studio in Las Vegas, but I've never been there. My friend and associate is the one in charge there, you can ask him." He said.

"What is his name?" Lindsay asked.

"Andrew Williams." Knight said and threw something in the trash can. "Anything else I can help you with?" He asked.

"Yeah, could you give us a sample of DNA to eliminate you as a suspect?" Lindsay asked.

"Sorry, but no. If there's nothing else, you can go now; I have lot things to do." Knight said and went to the back of the bar. Lindsay peeked inside the trashcan, put a glove on and picked up a bloody tissue.

"So do us." She said and showed to Morgan the evidence.

A few minutes later, Morgan and Lindsay arrived at the crime lab, "I'm going to analyze this, and I'll let you know what I find." Lindsay said.

Morgan nodded. "Okay, thank you." She said and heard her phone rang. "Brody." She answered.

" _Hey M, how are you?"_ Ecklie asked.

"I'm fine dad." She said. "Um…I guess you heard about Greg?" she asked.

" _Yeah, how's he?"_

"He's fine, detective Taylor sent him back to the hotel yesterday, he's staying there right now."

" _Well, it's good to hear that."_ Ecklie said.

"Dad, can I ask you a favor?" She asked.

" _Sure M, anything."_

"Can you look up for information about Andrew Williams?" She asked. "He's the friend of the main suspect here in New York and we believe he is the one who took the photos of the team."

" _Okay, I'll investigate and then I'll call you to give you information."_ Ecklie said.

"Thanks dad." Morgan said.

" _Be careful and tell Sanders I'm glad he's okay."_ He said.

Morgan smiled. "I will, thank you." She said and hanged up her phone.

* * *

Sheldon walked into the conference room where Mac and Russell were there. "Hey Mac." He said.

"Hawkes, you have something?" Mac asked.

"Yeah and it's quite interesting the things I found in the USB." Sheldon said showing Mac the USB. He walked to the TV and connected the USB. The screen lit up and photos of the victims of the Ace Killer appeared.

"These are photos of every victim known of the Ace Killer." Sheldon said.

"These are our victims." Mac said pointing at the familiar faces of O'Donnell, Mitchell and Judge Thompson. "But, who are they?" He asked looking at another set of photos.

"They are the victims the Ace Killer dumped in Vegas." Russell said crossing his arms. "They are Julien Nielsen, Clyde Smithson and Jacob Douglas." He said.

"Jacob Douglas?" Mac asked confused.

"Yeah, you know him?" Russell asked.

"Used to. He always talked about his career in the west coast." Mac answered.

"Until he moved to New York." Russell said.

"Yeah, but I think I saw his name earlier." Mac said and grabbed a file and started to check it. "Here is it." He said and showed Russell and Sheldon the file.

"He was the lawyer of O'Donnell and Mitchel back on Vegas when they were arrested for drug possession. Their parents hired him to represent them in court and made a deal with the District Attorney." Mac said.

"Does it say something about Nielsen and Smithson?" Russell asked.

Mac shook his head. "It only says that Nielsen and Smithson had a different lawyer who also made the same deal as Douglas." He said.

"So they received community service, but still don't explain why someone wanted them dead." Russell said, then his cellphone rang. "Excuse me." He said and left the room.

Mac sighed and continued looking through the files with the help of Sheldon; both looked through to the files to find if someone else was involved with them.

"Did you find anything?" Mac asked.

"No." Sheldon said. "I don't understand, if all those guys were involved in the same crime and the judge Thompson convicted them, why Gabriel ended up dead?" He asked.

Mac sighed. "I don't know. Gabriel was always the good boy, he never got into trouble." He said.

"You know, there's something I still don't understand." Sheldon said. "Why Judge Thompson gave this four guys community service when their chargers where more serious?" He asked.

"When Thompson came to New York I remember there were some people that said that Thompson used to be corrupted when he worked in Vegas." Mac answered.

"Do you think it has something to do whit the sentence of Mitchell and his friends?" Sheldon asked.

"Maybe, I read that O'Donnell was the great-grand-son of one of the most influential people in the 1910's, and his grandfather was also an important figure decades later." Mac said.

"So his family could have done anything to convince Thompson to reduce his sentences." Sheldon said and Mac nodded in return.

Russell walked again into the room after he ended his call and told Mac that his team had gone to Andrew William's studio and his assistant told them that he was out of town in a conference in Chicago, they showed the search warrant and looked around the studio trying to find the photos, but they didn't have any luck. Meanwhile, in the DNA lab, Lindsay was processing the bloody tissue Knight had thrown in the trash to see if it was a match to the unidentified DNA they had from part of the tooth and hair they recollected a few days ago.

"Hey Lindsay." Jo said walking into the lab.

"Hey Jo." She answered.

"Detective." One of the techs gave Lindsay a folder. She took it and looked at the results.

"We got a match." She said.

"Who?" Jo asked.

"Owen Knight." Lindsay said and showed Jo the results. "Morgan and I talked with him earlier; he denied having known the victims or Greg." She said.

"Well, he's definitely hiding something." Jo said.

Mac was in his office again, he had a call of Sinclair asking for an updating on the case and he told Sinclair that the case was going good and Sinclair told him to keep it that way to find the killer.

"Hey, Mac?" Jo asked entering in his office.

"Jo, what's up?" He asked.

"Lindsay got a match in the blood she took from the bloody tissue, we have a suspect." She said happily and gave Mac the results.

"Owen Knight." He said while reading his file.

"Yeah, Flack's already going to his house right now, and Russell is with him." Jo said.

"I think we finally made a really good progress." Mac said happy.

* * *

Flack and Russell arrived at an apartment building with three officers went upstairs to find Knight's apartment. "Here is it." Flack said. "Apartment 102-B." He took his gun while Russell stayed behind the other three officers.

Flack knocked on the door. "Owen Knight! NYPD, open up!" He said, when no one opened, Flack opened the door and saw that Owen was coming out through the window and started to going down by the emergency stairs of the apartment building, behind him; Flack came out and started to follow him. "Stop!" Flack yelled at him, but Owen continued going down until he reached the street level and started running through the alley with Flack behind him.

They crossed the street, avoiding the civilians who were walking. "Hey! Watch it!" A man said. "Watch Out!" A woman said.

The chase continued, and Owen turned left in an alley and Flack did the same. "NYPD! Stop!"

Owen looked over his shoulder to see Flack, but he never noticed a dumpster was blocking his was until he looked straight ahead and crashed with the dumpster. Flack stopped running and smiled when Knight was trying to get up. "Not bad for a tourist." He said to Russell who smirked in returned. Soon, the other officers arrived and arrested Knight and took him to the station.


	11. Chapter 11: Getting Closer

_**A/N: I finally finished this chapter. These last months had been a torture, but since school is over and the only thing left is the graduation party. I can finally write the next chapter with more freedom. Enjoy the chapter!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Getting closer.**

Owen Knight was brought to the station and Flack led him to one of the interrogation rooms. He called Mac and told him they had Knight in custody. Mac and Russell waited outside the interrogation room while Flack was talking to the suspect.

"You lied us Owen, you told to detective Messer and CSI Brody you didn't know any of the victims." Flack said.

"And I don't." Owen replied.

Mac looked over to Russell and they came into the interrogation room. "All yours." Flack said and left the interrogation room. Mac and Russell sat at the table while Owen looked at them confused.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm Detective Taylor and he is CSI Russell from Las Vegas Crime Lab." Mac said.

"And you are going to tell us everything you know." Russell said.

"I told the other detective that I don't know anything." Knight said.

"Then, why do we found your DNA in Gabriel Romero's body?" Mac asked getting upset. Knight only stayed silent. "Right now my team is searching for any evidence that relates you with the Ace Killer and those other murders." He said and Knight looked scared, then Mac received a message. Mac and Russell left the interrogation room and met with Flack.

"What do you think?" Flack asked.

"He's hiding something and right now we are going to know what." Mac said.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Mac and Russell arrived at the crime lab and were greeted by Adam. "Hey Adam." Mac said.

"Hi boss." Adam said.

"Do you found something?" Russell asked.

"Yeah, you should see it by yourselves." Adam said.

Mac and Russell followed Adam to the A/V lab and he showed them all the mails Owen had received from an anonymous user. They contained a lot of photos of all the victims, Danny arrived a few minutes later and told Mac that the fibers they had recollected from the previous crime scenes were identical to a sweater they had found in Owen's department –which also had a hole in one of the pockets- and they knew it was the right one.

* * *

They returned to the station and Mac, Flack and Russell entered in the interrogation room. "You again?" Owen asked, surprised to see the two detectives and the CSI.

"Yeah, here we are again, but this time you are going to tell us the truth." Mac said.

"I. DON'T. KNOW. ANYTHING!" Owen said getting up from the chair, an officer approached but Mac stopped him.

"Sit down, Mr. Knight." Mac said firmly.

"Mr. Knight, we found fibers in the last scenes and they belong to your sweater we found in your apartment." Russell explained.

"That doesn't mean I'm the man you're looking for. There lot sweaters like that in the entire city." Owen answered.

"That's where you are wrong, Owen." Flack said.

Mac took out a paper from a folder and placed it in front of Owen. "We took this from your e-mail account. It looks you were in contact with our killer." He said.

Owen looked at the paper." Look, I can explain it." He said.

"We're listening." Mac said.

"I know the Ace Killer, but only through the internet. He asked me several times to take photos of specific persons here in New York; I used to send him the photos and he paid me for that, but I haven't spoken with him since two weeks ago." Owen explained.

"And why did we found your DNA in Gabriel's hand?" Mac asked.

"We have evidence that marks you as the murder." Russell said.

Owen sighed; they already had him for conspirator. "I punched him okay, and yes I killed him." He said.

"Why?" Mac asked.

"That brat knew that I was selling information from the company to the completion, he talked with my boss and I was fired." Knight said. "But I haven't killed anyone related to the Ace Killer."

"But you killed Gabriel like the Ace Killer kills his victims." Mac said.

"It was a rage outburst and since he had been in the news I decided…" Owen trailed but Mac finished his sentence.

"To blame him for Gabriel's death but you didn't remember you had hit him two days before his death."

Owen nodded. "Yeah, I thought I had everything covered." He said.

Mac and Russell shared a glance. "Owen, there's still something we can't explain." Russell said.

"We found fibers of you sweater in the last scenes, care to tell me why?" Russell asked.

Owen sighed. "The Ace Killer sent me a message to help him with the scenes, he found out that I had killed Gabriel and that I was planning to incriminate him for Gabriel's death, so he threatened me and I had no other choice." He said.

"Do you know his face?" Mac asked.

Owen shook his head. "No, when I arrived at the places, he was always in the distance checking I was doing my job. He always used a black hood and I couldn't see his face."

"When are you going to see him again?" Russell asked.

"Today, in Central Park around 7:30 p.m." Owen said. "He wants me to do something for him, but I don't know what."

* * *

Morgan was in the crime lab helping Lindsay to process the things they had found in Owen's apartment, while the other members of the team were processing the car, the computer and Owen's office.

Morgan heard her phone and answered it. "Brody."

" _Hi Morgan."_ Ecklie said.

"Hey dad, you have something on Andrew Williams?" She asked.

" _Yeah, I sent Nick and Sara to his studio but his assistant told them that he was out of town in a conference in Chicago. They registered the studio but they didn't find anything."_ Ecklie answered.

Morgan sighed. "Thanks dad." She said.

" _Sure. Be careful, M."_ He said.

"I'll be dad, thanks." Morgan said and hung up the phone and returned to process the evidence. Danny was examining the tires of Owen's pick-up and noticed traces of soil on them, so he took a sample and analyzed the soil.

"Hey Jo." Danny said.

"Hey, do you have something on Owen's pick-up?" She asked the young detective.

"Yeah, I found soil on the tires. The soil has a high concentration of Sodium and radioactive elements." Danny answered.

Jo looked confused. "Radioactive elements?" She asked.

Danny nodded. "Also the consistence of the soil is similar to sand; I'm guessin' this guy drove through a desert." He said.

"But there are no deserts…" Jo said but an idea struck her. "I know someone who can answer that." She said and took the folder from Danny.

"Yeah, it's sand from the Nevada's desert." Morgan said looking at the results. "The Nevada desert was used as a nuclear test field during the 1950's, the military used to send missiles there to see the impact they had."

"That explains the high concentrations of radioactive elements." Jo said.

"Yeah." Morgan answered. "Where did you find this?" She asked.

"Danny took a sample from the tires of the suspect's pick-up." Jo explained.

"When we found the first victim, Greg found tire marks near the scene. He searched the tires, but there were no results." Morgan said.

"I guess we found your mysterious pick-up." Danny said. "Sheldon is still looking for fingertips, but right now this doesn't look good for Owen."

* * *

Two hours later, Mac and Russell were in Mac's office discussing what to do with Owen. "You think it's a good idea to let Owen see the Ace Killer?" Russell asked.

Mac sighed. "I don't know, but right now he's the best option we have to get closer to the Killer." He said.

"What do you think the Ace Killer asked Owen to meet him in Central Park?" Russell asked.

"There's a festival that will last the entire month and the Park is going to be open until 10, also there will be a lot of people." Mac said.

"And there is a chance the Killer might show his face." Russell said.

"Yeah, because if he goes hooded he will call unwanted attention, besides the city doesn't know his real face and he's not afraid of being discovered." Mac said. He got up and took his coat.

"Where are you going?" Russell asked.

"I'm going to talk with our suspect." Mac answered and left the lab.

* * *

Lindsay was processing the envelopes they had found in Owen's apartment when Morgan walked in.

"Hey Lindsay." She said.

"Hey Morgan, did you talk with your friends in Vegas?" The detective asked.

"Yeah, I spoke with my dad. He sent a team to Andrew Williams' studio but his assistant told them he was in a conference in Chicago." She said. "They didn't find anything.

"This case is too odd." Lindsay said.

"Hey guys." Sheldon said walking into the lab where Lindsay and Morgan were.

"Hi Sheldon." Lindsay said. "You have something on the fingertips from the pick-up?"

"I found Owen's fingertips, but I also found fingertips from an unknown person." He said.

"So, Owen burrowed his pick-up to the Ace Killer." Lindsay said.

"Maybe, I already ask for the footage of every booth where the pick-up of our suspect passed." He said. "Let's hope we finally know who the killer is."

* * *

Mac returned to the station and told Flack about the plan to catch the Ace Killer, Flack agreed and both detectives walked into the interrogation room to tell Owen about their plan.

"No way, he's going to kill me." Owen said after he had heard Mac. "If he knows I agreed to do this, he will kill me as soon as he sees me in the Park."

"Don't worry Owen; he will not know we will be there." Flack said.

Owen looked at the detectives. "So, how does it work?" He asked.

"There will be undercover officers near the perimeter where you and the Ace Killer will be and you also have to use a microphone under your shirt so we can know what you are talking about." Mac said, then his cellphone rang and he exited the interrogation room.

"So, you'll be there?" Owen asked.

Flack nodded. "You'll be fine." He said. A few minutes later, Mac entered in the room and sat again in front of Owen.

"Mr. Knight, before we start with this, do you mind telling me if you lend your pick-up lately?" He asked.

"Uh…I lent the pick-up to one of my friends seven months ago; he wanted to go to the West Coast and stayed there a month. He returned it to me a few weeks ago." Owen said.

"What's the name of your friend?" Mac asked.

"I know him as Billy." Owen answered.

"Does Billy have a last name?" Flack asked.

"Andrews, I guess." Owen said.

Mac and Flack left the interrogation room. "Check anything on Billy Andrews; I'm going back to the lab to explain our plan to the others." Mac said and Flack nodded in return.

As soon as Mac returned to the crime lab, he called the team and the CSI's from Vegas and explained them the plan they had created to stop the Ace Killer. "We'll go undercover to prevent the Ace Killer from knowing we are there, Mr. Knight agreed to help us, he told us he will meet our main suspect in Central Park around 7:30 p.m. Each one of us will be in strategic points keeping an eye on Mr. Knight and the point reunion with the Ace Killer and as soon as you see the Ace Killer, don't approach to them, let them talk in peace but if he sees any one of us and runs away, follow him and try to stop him; don't shoot him, we need him alive to solve this case." He explained and the whole team agreed.

As the detectives of the team started to leave to the station, Russell and Morgan stayed behind and asked Mac if they could participate in the undercover operation. Mac was unsure at first but after Morgan told him she had done things like this before when she was working in L.A. Mac agreed to let the CSI's from Vegas to work with them.

A few hours later, the police arrived at Central Park and started to organize. Mac and the team were putting on their bulletproof vests; meanwhile the other policemen were helping Owen with his microphone and his bulletproof vest. Once the team was ready, Mac explained again the plan but the team never expected Greg to arrive.

"Greg?" Morgan asked as soon as she saw him. "What are you doing here?" She asked while the detectives and Russell looked at them.

"I saw the police cars and the pick-ups in their way here, so I came to see what's going on." He answered.

"We might have a lead on who the Ace Killer is, the man who killed Gabriel Romero is going to help us." Morgan answered.

"Is something I can do to help?" Greg asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Greg." Russell said.

"Please, let me help. I feel a little useless staying at the hotel." Greg begged.

Mac and Russell shared a glance, finally Mac sighed. "Okay, but stay where I tell you to stay, you understand?" He asked and Greg nodded in return.

"Get ready."

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, what do you think will happen? God, we are so close to the end. Thanks for following and reviewing.**_


	12. Chapter 12: The Ace Killer, part one

_**A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while since I updated the story. I knew I told you I would do it during my vacations (by the way, I'm still on vacations since I don't start collage 'til September), but life gets in the way. I had this idea for a new fanfic so I couldn't write the chapter until I started to write the other fanfic and then, a tragedy came into my family...my dad passed away a month ago, so I'm still dealing with the grief 'cause it was so suddenly, but you know we need to move on. I apologize if the chapter seems off. I hope you enjoy it!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 12: The Ace Killer, part one.**

Once Greg was secure with a bullet-proof vest, Mac gave again the information about the undercover operation. He emphasized the fact that they needed to capture the Ace Killer alive to interrogate him.

"Okay, each one of you knows your position, stay there even if the Ace Killer gets away." Mac said.

"Flack, you and other detectives will be near the main entrance of the park. Danny, Lindsay you'll be among the crowd. Greg, Morgan; you'll be sitting over those tables and Jo, D.B. and I will be near the place where Owen will meet the Ace Killer." He said. "And Sheldon and Adam are in a mobile unit, they will help us with video and audio and will record everything the Ace Killer and Owen talk about."

The team nodded in agreement and they left for their positions. Mac gave the sign and some detectives brought Owen and left him a couple of meters away from the bench where he was supposed to meet the Ace Killer.

"Okay, everyone report in." Mac said through the microphone.

"Team one in position." Flack replied.

"Team two in position." Danny said while he and Lindsay were walking through the crowd.

"Team three in position." Morgan said while she and Greg were sitting at the table.

"Adam, Sheldon; how's everything there?" Mac asked.

"We have complete view on you and Owen's microphone works good." Adam said.

"As soon as the Ace Killer appears, we'll run the facial recognition program to see if he has any criminal records, maybe we can finally have a name for our Killer." Sheldon said.

"Okay, thanks Sheldon." Mac said and the teams waited for the killer.

While they were waiting for the Ace Killer, Morgan and Greg decided to order something to drink to make it seem like they were on a date. Morgan glanced at Greg and saw a sad look in his eyes.

"Hey, are you fine?" She asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry." Greg said.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes. Well, you know, if someone has been stalking you for the years and is planning to kill you or harm you in a way at least you'll like to know name." He answered.

"You're right." Morgan said. "Have you talked to Nick?" She asked.

"Yeah, Nick asked me how I was and I told him that I was bored for staying too long in the hotel room." Greg said with a hint of sarcasm.

Morgan chuckled. "Also your dad called me." He said.

Morgan looked surprised. "He did?" She asked.

Greg nodded. "Yeah, actually I was surprised." He said.

"I never thought my dad would do something like that." Morgan said. Both of them started to laugh. The minutes passed and every time someone approached to Owen they waited if they sat next to him and started to talk with him, but there was no luck.

* * *

After a while, Adam and Hawkes saw a man using sunglasses and a blue sweatshirt. "Mac, we see a man using sunglasses and a blue sweatshirt." Hawkes said.

"Sunglasses at this hour?" Russell asked confused.

"It might be the killer." Mac answered. "Sheldon, where is he?" He asked.

"He's north of your position. Flack do you see him?" Adam said.

"Yeah, okay everyone keep an eye on him." Flack said to the other teams.

"We see him." Danny said.

"We see him too." Morgan said.

"Remember, don't let him see you. He doesn't have to know there are cops here, we need him alive." Mac said.

The Ace Killer approached to Owen and sat next to him on the bench. "I'm glad you came." He said.

"You think I wouldn't?" Owen asked.

The Ace Killer laughed. "We both know the reason you came:" He said and Owen looked afraid. "So you could still be a free man." The Ace Killer said.

"So, why did you ask me to see us here?" Owen asked a couple of minutes later.

"I have a new target for you." The Killer said. "Actually, two targets for you." He said and gave Owen a yellow envelope.

Owen took the envelope and opened it, he took whatever was inside. "What did he gave him?" Hawkes asked while looking at the screen.

"I don't know, let me ser if I can zoom the imagen." Adam said and he did it and also he improved the imagen. "Two photos, one of Gregand the other...I don't who is he." Adam said.

"Mac, the Killer gave Owen two photos. One is from Greg and the other of our last suspect." Hawkes said.

"Copy that Hawkes. Keep listening." Mac said.

The Killer and Owen continued talking for a while when the Killed glanced at the direction where Greg and Morgan were sitting. The Killer recognized Greg, so he turned to Owen.

"You brought the police!?" He said very angry.

"What? No." Owen said.

"Mac, we have a problem." Hawkes said.

"We see it." Mac said. "Flack, stay in position until I say otherwise." He said.

"Copy that Mac." Flack said.

"Danny, Lindsay. Stay in position." Mac said.

"Copy Mac." Danny said and he and Lindsay walked to the bench.

"I knew you were a coward." The Killer said and saw all the undercover detectives walking towards them. He thought fast and punched Owen right in the face and run off.

"He's on the move!" Mac said and all the detectives started to run after the Killer. Mac, Danny, Flack and Greg chased the Killer while the other ones stayed with Owen. They chased him through the festival avoiding to collide with the people and through the park until the Killer turn left and dissappeared after climbing a wall.

The three detectives and the CSI from Las Vegas stopped in front of the wall. "Where is he?" Flack asked.

"I don't know." Mac said. "Adam, Hawkes. Do you see him?" He asked.

"No." Adam said. "We lost visual on the suspect." He said.

Mac and the team was frustated. They almost had the Killer and he ran away. "I want Owen to be processed and this part of the park." Mac said upset. "If he left something, we will find him."

The team started to look for any trace the Killer had left behind. While Flack and his detectives were asking for witnesses, Mac and his team looked for evidence, fortunately, one of them found the sweatshirt the Killer had used and took it to the lab. After finding small evidence, the team was ready to return to the lab, except for Greg who was sent back to his hotel room.

* * *

The rest of the team arrived at the lab and started to process the evidence they had found. Sheldon processed the sweatshirt and he found hairs on it, so he took one of them and started to analyze it. Meanwhile, Danny had found the sunglasses the Killer had use and he looked for any traces of sweat that could contain the Killer's DNA.

"Sheldon, you have something about the sweatshirt?" Mac asked.

"Yes, I found short hairs on it, I took a sample. Let's hope we have a match in the system." Sheldon said.

"Call me when you have something." Mac said and Sheldon nodded.

"Hey Mac." Danny said from the Trace lab.

"You have something?" Mac asked.

"I didn't find sweat on the sunglasses the Killer left behind, but I did find partial fingertips, I'm running now through the system." Danny said.

"Good, call me when you have the results." Mac said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Greg was sitting in the lobby of the hotel when someone sat in the couch across him. "Hey Greg." Jerome said.

"Hi Jerome." He said.

"Did you know if they found the killer?" Jerome asked.

"Sorry, I can't tell you even if I'm out of the case." Greg answered.

"Oh, okay." Jerome said. "I met with someone after the NYPD released me." Jerome said.

"Who?" Greg asked looking at his friend.

"Mark." Jerome said. Greg was surprised. He hadn't heard from his childhood friend since that tragic night.

"Where?" Greg asked.

"Outside the building where I live." Jerome said. "I was very surprised when I saw him."

"What did he tell you?"

"Not much, he said he wanted to talk with the two of us and I told him you were here." Jerome said. "And since you're out of the case, you have time for us, right?"

Greg was a little surprised for this but Jerome was right, since he was out of the case he didn't do much in the hotel room, only waiting for Morgan's call to telling him how the case was going. "Yeah, sure." Greg said.

Jerome smiled. "It will be just like old times." He said and the two left the hotel.

* * *

"Taylor." Mac said answering his phone.

" _Mac, it's Hawkes. I have the results of the hairs I found on the sweatshirt."_ Sheldon said.

"I'm on my way." Mac said and hung up the phone. While he was on his way to DNA, Russell saw him. "Yeah, okay. Thank you, Nick. I'll keep you posted." He said hanging up the phone.

"Mac!" He said catching up with the detective. "Where are you going?"

"DNA. Sheldon found a match with the hairs found on the sweatshirt the Killer was wearing." Mac answered as he and Russell walked into DNA.

"The DNA I took from the hairs is in the system." Sheldon said as he hold a folder in his hands.

"We have a name?" Mac asked.

"Yep, but our victim's DNA appeared in Missing People." Sheldon said.

Mac and Russell stared at Hawkes with confused looks on their faces. "The victim's name is William Anderson, he was reported missing when he was 14." Sheldon said.

"Where did he lived?" Mac asked.

"His family moved to Baltimore when he was nine, a few years later he dissappeared and his parents reported his dissapearence to the police. Flack is talking to the Baltimore PD to know all the details of the case." Sheldon said.

"Do you have his background information?" Rusell asked.

Sheldon shook his head. "Flack said he's going to send the information once he talks with the Baltimore police department." He said.

* * *

"Mark!" Greg said when he saw his friend.

"Greg! How are you?" Mark asked while hugging Greg.

"I'm fine. And you?" Greg said.

"Well, you know. Life is always moving and we can't stay back." Mark answered.

"How's your old man?" Greg asked.

"He's fine. Jerry told me you are a criminalist." Mark said.

Greg smiled. He missed talking with his old friends like this. "Yeah, I used to be the DNA technician but after a lot of work and effort, I was able to do field work." He answered.

The other two laughed. "They, I heard you wrote a book about the history of Las Vegas." Jerome said.

Greg blushed slightly. "Yeah, the city is full of secrets." He said.

The three of them laughed and started to order different kind of drinks and continued talking about the past days. Meanwhile, Mac was reading the information Flack had sent him after talking with the Baltimore police. He read the files until something got his attention; he got up and looked for Russell.

After a few drinks, Greg and his friends were still talking about their high school days. He smiled at the old memories when everything was fine, they continued talking and drinking for a little while.

* * *

"Are you sure he returned to the hotel?" Russell asked.

Morgan nodded. "Yes, I accompanied the officers who took him back to the hotel." She said worried. They had tried to speak with Greg about twenty minutes ago, but he didn't answer his cellphone and the hotel's phone of his room.

"Any luck?" Mac asked. Russell shook his head. Mac sighed. "D. B. go with Danny to the hotel and see if you can find anything that tells you where he could be." He said.

Russell nodded and he left with Danny the crime lab and went to the hotel. Morgan sighed tiredly; she only wanted to know if Greg was fine.

* * *

"Shure you don't want to come?" Jerome asked drunk.

Greg shook his head; thankfully he was only dizzy after the two shoots he had taken. But right now, Jerome and Mark decided to go to another bar and they asked Greg if he wanted to come along but he said no.

"I guess I'll stay here a little while, you guys go and have fun." He said.

"Okay, see you later!" Mark said and he and Jerome left the bar. Greg stayed for ten minutes more and then he decided to return to the hotel. He paid his bill and left the bar. He never knew that someone was waiting for him outside the bar, so when Greg exited the bar, that someone hit him with an empty bottle.

The last thing Greg knew was that someone was walking towards them and after that, everything went black.

 **To be continued…**


End file.
